


Wash This Over Me

by The_Shy_One



Series: Lancelot fics [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2018-12-17 20:43:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11859306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Shy_One/pseuds/The_Shy_One
Summary: Lance gets captured by an unknown Galra during one of the paladin's mission.





	1. Chapter One

The fire spread quickly across the room. It’s blue flames flickered dangerously towards him, teasing the moment when it would finally reach him. He pulled his legs closer, knowing that it would be pointless. His teammates couldn’t reach him with the door closed and various parts of the ship blocking it at the same time. That coupled with the fire, he knew he wouldn’t be getting out of their without a serious injury.

 

His head fell to his knees, the urge to cry stronger than anything else at the moment. Lance knew it was stupid to cry in such a situation, he knew that his teammates would do anything to get to him. But rationality in this situation was lost to him.

 

The heat of the fire made his armour grow warmer and sweat started to form. He was tempted to take his armour off to avoid the sticky feeling from the sweat, but knew that would cause more harm to him than anything else. The fire would burn his skin if he didn’t have the armour which was resistance towards many things. If he remembered correctly, Coran spoke of how Allura’s father made it so, so that the team wouldn’t have to worry about each other in case they lost track of each other on a mission.

 

A tiny smile came and went on Lance’s face. If the team didn’t reach him in time, he would never hear Coran’s stories again. He may have been way older than Lance, but somehow they clicked together. It was like one of his relationships with his older cousins. You could tell them anything and they would offer comfort in return.

 

Just as he felt the tears pool in his eyes, he heard a crashing sound from outside the door. He lifted his head up, seeing a few dents that weren’t there before. Lance moved his hands to wipe at his eyes, not wanting to have his fear shown in front of the team. He definitely didn’t want to give them any fuel to the fire that he would be useless on the team.

 

There was more crashing sounds from outside the door, the dents size increasing with each blow. Just as the blue flames would have reached Lance, the door burst open and in flooded in an unknown Galra with armour to protect them from the flames. The only thing that was left without any protection was their hands, most likely left that way to open or close doors on their ships with ease. 

 

Quickly racing across the room, the fire unable to harm them, the Galra pulled Lance into their arms. Before he could protest anything, the unknown Galra made his way out of the room. Still Lance tries to wiggle his way out the hold once they left the room, not wanting to be a captive. But the strength of the Galra was far stronger than any human hoped to get out of. 

 

Still that gave him the option to talk his capture’s ears off. If his mother’s jokes about his talkative nature were right, than he could get out of this quicker than going through a wormhole.

 

“Hey is it just me or was that a hot entrance?” The Galra stopped for a moment. Lance mentally cheered and went even further. “Because being rescued like that has got to get somebody into your muscular arms.”

 

He waited for some sort of reaction to his false flirting. While he may flirt with many of the aliens he came across, flirting with a Galra part of the Empire wasn’t part of that at all. For a few moments the hallway was silent. Then he heard the voice of his capture.

 

“I suppose it could have been one. Though I doubt it was me who caused such a warm feeling to spread through the room my dear.” The Galra said, the helmet muffling the voice a bit. But it was enough for Lance to get a general idea of how they sounded. It made his heart speed just a bit faster and how he hated his heart for doing so.

 

“Or maybe it was the both of us? I bet you have a beautiful face under that helmet.” Lance said back. There was a rushed feel to the words he said, but better than stammering them out.

 

There was a hearty chuckled from his capture. “I hope you’ll stick to this conclusion once you find out who I really am. After all you are a paladin of Voltron. Here to save the universe from the Empire’s horrible invasion.”

 

Before Lance could answer him back, they started to move again. The hallways blurred together as the Galra ran towards his destination. Still Lance could hear the fighting of his teammates and it made him want to join them. After all rescuing the universe was part of being a Paladin.

 

He tried to squirm again and felt the unknown Galra’s arms tightening. It would have encouraged others to give up, but Lance wasn’t like them. He was known for doing the stupidest stunts for unknown reasons. He was not about to lose to this Galra, despite what the team would have said if they were in contact with him.

 

So he went limp. He waited for the arms to relax their tight grip that would come. He used this trick many times with his siblings and cousins to get away. Minutes passed, but Lance knew it would come eventually. It always did.

 

As the unknown Galra ran past a room where a battle between druids and paladins were going on, Lance was only given a second to yell out. The paladins could only snap their heads towards him before they had to focus back to the battle in front of them. He felt his heart sank at the sight, knowing he couldn’t be rescued if they were all occupied with a fight.

 

He started to squirm again, desperate to return to his team. The arms just tightened their grip on him even further. That’s when he felt the tears from earlier return. 

 

After all, in this situation what could he do to escape the Galra?   
______________________________

 

He was shoved into a ship, likely that the unknown Galra didn’t want to take any chances with him to escape nor his team having a stray member try to rescue him. The ship had enough room for him to sit on the ground while the Galra took his place in the pilot seat. There was a few moments of silence where the Galra was concentrating on a screen that popped in front of them.

 

Lance shifted his gazed towards the door, wishing he could get away. Or have his team rescue him. At this thought a few tears slipped out. Quickly and quietly, he  used his hands to wipe them away. He would not give his capture anything to hold over him. Not now, not ever.

 

The he heard the ship hum to live and the beginning parts of it lifting off the group. It was familiar and comforted him enough to keep the rest of his tears from escaping. The Galra mumbled to themselves as they took the controls and moved the small ship out of the hanger.

 

Lance glanced out the window, seeing his chance of being rescued literally drift away from him. The beauty of the stars and surrounding galaxies were made dull by his predicament and they continued to so the further the ship moved. A sigh escaped him.

 

Then he was faced with the Galra without the blackout glass of their helmet. 

 

It was one of the more prettier faces he’s seen for the Galra. The first thing he noticed was the eyes that actually had pupils rather than having the whole eye being one colour. From a distance, he could make out a gorgeous colour of blue in the other’s eyes. Then he noticed the sharp cheekbones that could figuratively cut glass.

 

And the smooth skin. 

 

Alright Lance was jealous of this guy’s skin. It looked to be extremely smooth and had a healthy glow to it that he could never quite achieve. Plus the light purple tinge to the skin looked a lot better than the darker purple he’s seen on several other Galra soldier. When the Galra shifted his head, Lance also spotted a strip of white hair that he guess was too stubborn to stay in with the rest of his hair in the helmet.

 

The unknown Galra was very pretty and even Lance could admit that about his capture. He was not blind, but he wasn’t a fool. He knew better than to let his admiration of good looks take over his mind. Several times of that happening to him with other aliens made him curb it.

 

Then a chuckle brought him out of looking at his capture’s face. The unknown Galra slowly took off his helmet, placing it on the floor and Lance suddenly felt his admiration grow. The white hair was styled with a small part of the hair tied up at the back while the rest of it was left to freely hang. The part that wasn’t tied back looked to be fluffier and would swing back and forth as the Galra moved from his seat. 

 

“No way you can have hair that amazing. Aren’t you a soldier?” Lance asked. He couldn’t believe someone could have that much hair and still maintain it with the militaristic life that the Galra Empire lead. He’s seen the fur that the soldiers and higher positions had and they were not kept as good as that.

 

“I’m not a soldier nor am I a general or else I would have my hair cut shorter to keep up with such a job.” The Galra said, his hand brushing through the bottom strands of his tied part of his hair.  “I am Prince Lotor of the Galra Empire and I will be taking you with me. Most likely you will be bargaining chip for my team to use to lure the Paladins. After all they need five members to form Voltron, or was I mistaken?”

 

“No. No you’re not.” Lance said softly. 

 

But in his mind,he figured with him out of the picture then Shiro could take over the Red lion. After all they had enough people on the Castle to do so. With that thought hanging over him, his head dropped to his knees that he pulled towards his body. 

 

“Well as much as you are captured, you will be treated like one of my own generals.The reason why will not be revealed to you since knowing will give you a chance to figure out a way to counter it. But when you are on my ship, you must stick close to either me or one of my generals. Do you understand?” Lotor said, moving closer to Lance. 

 

He didn’t crouch nor did he let his eyes leave Lance. He was studying the Red Paladin, trying to see what weaknesses he could exploit for the future. Not much was revealed to him other than mentioning the team seemed to hit much harder than being captured. A few theories sprung to mind, but none that could be confirmed just yet.

 

From Lance’s limited view all he could see was the towering height of the alien. He pulled his knees closer, a primal fear that Lotor might do something else other stand over him.

 

“I understand.” Lance replied quietly.

 

Then Lotor kneeled over Lance with something in his hands. The galra held it out to Lance with a softer glance than what he saw before. “Take this. It will take some time to return to my ship. All it will do is cause sleep.”

 

“Nothing else?” Lance asked, hesitantly. “How can I be sure that’s all it will do? You are the son of Zarkon after all.”

 

For a moment he saw anger past through Lotor’s eyes at the last comment. It blazed so bright, Lance was unsure if the alien would lash out at him or his surroundings. Then Lotor controlled his face to appear like the softer glance he had before.

 

“I only offer a way to pass the time. I’m hardly a person to spend time with on long trips such as this. My generals can tell you this if they were with me.” The Galra answered honestly.

 

For a moment Lance stayed quiet. He watched the prince’s body, waiting for anything that would suggest that the Galra would harm him. When seconds past by and Lotor stayed in the same position without change, he sighed and held his hand out. Lotor passed the small pill to him and then got up. 

 

Lance swallowed it with little trouble and looked over at his capture once more. “You probably would have been better buddy for a road trip than my siblings. All they would do was tease and annoy me during the whole to our hotel.” Lance said tiredly. He yawned as he let his head rest on his shoulder. “But when we were let out of the car, suddenly we would be a knitted group as we took our luggage to the rooms. It was nice.”

 

Lotor watched as the last sentence slipped out of the Red Paladin. He knew that it wouldn’t take long to get to his ship, but he rather have the paladin comfortable when arriving on his ship rather than being scared.

 

He would not rule through fear. He was not his father in any way.

____________________________

 

_ In his dreams, Lance was met with his family and his team mingling together. Happily they talked together, exchanging stories of their lives. Lance was at the edge of the group, but was still smiling at two parts of his life coming together. Then he was pulled backwards.  _

 

_ He felt himself shouting towards his family and friends as he continued to be pulled. But everytime he shouted, it felt like his voice was being muffled. That he wasn’t shouting as loud as he could.  _

 

_ Even with is shouting, they didn’t pay any attention to him. They continued to talk to each other, like they didn’t even notice his sudden disappearance. As he continued to shout, tears poured down his face and fell on the ground where his tracks were from being dragged. _

 

_ Then Lance was thrown to the ground. His shouts stopped as he felt the air in his lungs forced out. Still his tears continued, leaving a puddle where his face was shoved into the ground. A shadow passed over him and with a touch of someone’s clawed hands over his chest, air returned to him. Instead of shouting for his family, he started to sob uncontrollably. _

 

_ “Let me sooth those tears my dear. After all if they can’t comfort you the way you want to, then let me.” The voice said. Lance blindly grabbed for whoever was talking to him. He wanted someone to stop his crying. Because if he stopped crying like this than he wouldn’t hurt anymore. _

 

_ The same clawed hands lifted him up from his shoulders and pressed him to a soft body. Long hair curtained around him, blocking him from the rest of the world. He felt safer, but still he continued to sob. _

 

_ “Please stop it. Make it stop.” Lance shouted. Still the same feeling from earlier gripped his chest, like there was something weighing his chest permanently.  _

 

_ “Anything for you my dear.” _

 

His body was on high alert as he quickly woke up. Heart pounding like he just ran a marathon Lance put a hand over his chest, trying to ground himself. Slowly as his body calmed down, he noticed that his usual paladin armor was replaced with clothing that was two sizes big for him. Still it was better than being naked in what he presumed was the prince’s bed. 

 

The clothing was soft to the touch, almost feeling like silk. Lance guessed it was specially made for the Prince since he had skin similar to humans and wouldn’t have been able to handle clothing that the Galra wore because of their fur. Still it worked out for him, since he also hated clothing that felt rouch on the skin. Lance looked up from his shirt to look around the room he was placed in.

 

He definitely wasn’t on the same ship with the Galra prince like he was earlier. For one he was sleeping in a bed with the covers surrounding his body. Another clue was the low lighting that came from the artificial lights and lamps in the room. Lance saw that the room was also had bookshelves that were filled with books and trinkets. It was a personal touch that Lance wish he could have with his room on the Castle.

 

Then the door opened with Lotor walking through. He still had the same amour on from the smaller ship. The prince was grumbling about something as he let himself drop onto the bed with little grace. Lance felt himself bounce up slightly.

 

“Are you okay?” He asked, unsure what he should do.

 

“Alright as I can be at the moment.” Lotor huffed out. His meeting with Haggar made him more angry than he should have. But there was so much emotion he could contain when that woman didn’t give him enough room to do what he planned for the Empire.

 

He then felt a hand run through his hair. Lotor was about to snap something at is captive when the other spoke up. “If you go to bed with your hair like this, it might get tangled.”

 

“You may continue. I do need to keep up my appearance for my image of the army and the public.”

 

Lotor could hear the soft scoff from the Red Paladin as he continued to gently move his hands through the hair. While he brushed his hair regularly, it was different to have someone else do it. Usually they were rough, as they only dealt with hair no longer than their shoulder blades. It was quite annoying.

 

But with the gentle movements, he felt himself slipping to sleep. Each time he tried to force himself awake. Then he felt the hands massaging his head, close to his temple, he felt himself slip.

 

He couldn’t help it.


	2. Chapter Two

During Lotor’s short nap, Lance took it upon himself to brush through the long hair with a proper brush. With a quick search around the room to find a door that lead into a bathroom, he grabbed for something that looked like a brush. If he ever got back to Earth, he was going to introduce the alien races with hair and fur the magical wonders of using such an invention.

 

As gently as he could, he started to brush out the prince’s hair. It was a tad softer than he thought it would be the more he ran the brush through it. Lance honestly wanted to push his face into the white hair to feel the softness of it, as creepy as the action was.

 

Resisting his odd urge, Lance found himself wanting to do more than brush out the hair. He checked Lotor’s state, seeing the prince still asleep. For a moment he wondered what had Lotor so wound up to make him this tired. After all he was the Son of Zarkon, he must be used to dealing with the duties that his father bestowed on him from a young age.

 

 _‘But if he’s such a powerful enemy, why didn’t Zarkon use his son earlier against Voltron?’_ It was a thought that Lance had since the first battle against the Prince when he was just a voice that taunted them in the shadows. But now the thought persisted as he spent a few hours with Lotor.

 

It made no sense in his mind why Zarkon didn’t have his son along with him to take down the team. Maybe there was something else he was missing?

 

As he spent time bouncing between ideas about why Lotor wasn’t there from the beginning, his hands started to form a braid at the base of the Galra’s skull. He left the hair near the forehead alone, planning on trying to use it for a bun. It was a familiar action that Lance didn’t even have to pay much attention to how tight the braid needed to be for the length of hair. He really should thank his sisters for teaching him if he ever went back home.

 

As Lance was reaching the end of the hair, Lotor started to stirr from his nap. The Galra groaned at the prospect of being awake, not wanting to face Haggar again if she decided to be overbearing.

 

Really he did win the title of being the ruler of the Empire and he wasn’t about to be shadowed by the witch because they could accept that they could gain allies in a more peaceful way than pushing their way onto planets. At least that’s what Lotor believed.

 

He sighed as moved his body into a sitting position. Then he felt his head tug backwards. Turning his head to look behind him, he saw the Red Paladin holding his hair as he twisted it into a braid. Lotor watched for a moment, captivated by how fast the other’s hands moved. It was an action that was familiar to the Paladin and he noted that to the back of his mind.

 

Perhaps he could be more than bait after all.

 

“I guess I’ll be fashionable for my Generals today.” He finally spoke up after a few seconds of watching. The paladin jumped up slightly at his voice before sending a glare at him. It only caused Lotor to smirk back.

 

“I wasn’t paying attention. Your hair is so soft by the way. How do you manage it being this long without going crazy? I mean I tried to grow it out when I was younger, but my mom said and I quote ‘Your hair is too thin Lance. Growing it out wouldn’t benefit your face at all.’ “ Lance rambled as he reached the end of the braid. His face grew slightly red as he realized he didn’t have anything to tie it with.

 

“I managed it for many years as it grew out. At this point if I didn’t know how to take care of it, then I would have failed myself poorly.” Lotor said, reach into a basket he had on the bedside table. He gave the paladin a hair tie and Lance snatched it away, quickly tying up the end of the braid. “As for your mother, I do think her words had some truth to them.”

 

“Why you’re such a gentleman Lotor. Complimenting a guy on his thin ugly hair like that.” Lance quipped.

 

“While it may not be flattering to be as long as mine, the length of it now certain compliments your face.” He said back. He saw the paladins face change to a red colour. He theorized that that only happened to the paladin when they were embarrassed. Maybe even when they were extremely enraged.

 

“Anyway, I need to sit closer to you. This is the difficult part when trying to do this. Especially if the person is squirmy.” As Lance said that, he scooted to Lotor’s back and positioned the other’s head in a way that could benefit Lance as he started to form a bun with the rest of the hair.

 

They went silent as Lance gave his full concentration to finish up the hair do. For a few minutes, Lotor felt the way Lance tugged at his hair and found himself surprised that it wasn’t rough. It was one surprise after another with the Red Paladin that it made even more curious about who he was.

 

Not many really caught the attention of Lotor, especially with his own species. He knew he was half Galra and half something else. He knew that since a young age when the other Galra gave his shorter stature and white hair a disgusted look. But the few who looked beyond his looks and his status as a prince were worth keeping around.

 

With one last tug to his hair, Lotor felt the paladin’s hands move away from his hair. Even if he didn’t allow anybody to touch his hair, he missed the way the paladin’s hands moved through it. Like it was precious material that had to be handled with care.

 

“You got a small mirror I could use? I’m betting you want to see what I did to your hair.” Lance said. He was happy to see that the difficult project he sent out to do to Lotor’s hair was perfect. Especially with how the braid wrapped around the base of the bun.

 

“I do have one. Let me get it for you.”  With that Lotor reached into the drawer of he bedside table and pulled out the mirror he kept in there. Handing it to the paladin, he felt himself growing excited. While he did his hair himself, especially when he wanted to put it up, it was nice to see someone else excited as he was to take care of one’s self.

 

Then he was tugged forward, nearly falling to the floor. The paladin righted him before that could happen and dragged him into the bathroom. “There you can see the back yourself.”

 

Lotor looked into the mirror that the paladin had positioned at the back of his head, showing the design of the braid. He could see where the other had started and where it went up to the bun. From there the braid wrapped itself around the base of the bun, making it look like it was tied there. He also noticed that the end of the braid couldn’t be seen, probably tucked somewhere in the bun.

 

He was really impressed with the Red Paladin’s skill.

 

“What is your name Red Paladin?” He asked, curiosity wanting an answer.

“My name?” Lance asked hesitantly. He had honestly forgotten that the Galra Prince didn’t ask for his name until now. Lotor nodded in a yes motion.”

 

“It’s Lance. Lance McClain.”

 

“Lance of the Red Lion. My, you are a curious thing.” Lotor said. Before Lance could question what he meant, Lotor gently pulled him out of the bathroom. “I have get back to my generals, they must be wondering where I am.”

_____________________________

 

“Prince Lotor, who did your hair? You never let anyone touch it.” One of the Generals said, zipping over to the two of them as they came into the  bridge.   
  


“The Red Paladin did my hair. His hands are much gentler than yours, Ezor, so he’s allowed to touch my hair.” Lotor replied, sitting in a chair. Even if it looked closer to a throne than a chair. With a hand, he motioned Lance to stand near him.

 

“I’m a better spy than I am a hairstylist anyway.” Ezor said, joining back up with one of the other Generals. 

 

Lance noticed that the look of the Generals looks all varied. They all had different heights, most taller than Lance and all had different shades of skin. But the one that looked close to a typical Galra was the one stationed at the front of the bridge, near the window.

 

He was quickly introduced to each of them, each giving their own greeting. Especially Zethrid who gave a hearty grin at him. If she wasn’t with the Galra Empire, he would have loved her to join the team. In his gut he knew she would be useful in a battle.

 

Lance was surprised at how Lotor’s Generals acted towards each other when they weren’t on a battlefield. Or maybe he was surprised that Galra soldiers could be anything other than aggressive. He couldn’t decide at this point.

 

Still he watched them silently at Lotor’s side, taking in any information that could be useful to the team if he was ever rescued. If he could do that, then he wouldn’t be only known as the sharpshooter of the team. 

 

The one known as Ezor was standing beside Acxa, talking quietly to each other. Lance could see hints of what could be a start of a romantic relations (or just a close friendship, who knew with aliens). Zethrid and Narti were by themselves, working on different parts of the bridge. 

 

It wasn’t a lot of information to go off of, but anything was better than nothing.

 

“I could get a chair for you to sit in.” Lotor said quietly. “We do spend a lot of time here, so standing around for that long won’t do your legs any good.”

 

Lance considered the other’s words. While he could stand for long periods of time, sitting sounded more appealing in this case. But on the other hand, it could be leverage for the prince to use. “I wouldn’t want impose your generals that way. I’m sure they have much more important things to do.”

_ Like finding his friends and taking Voltron from them. _

 

Lotor gave him a look, but didn’t say anything further on the subject. He wouldn’t push it as it was Lance’s decision, but at some point he would have to take charge. He did need the paladin in good condition to be bait for the Voltron team after all.

 

Silence came over the room, everyone working at their stations. Lotor swept his eyes over everything, making sure that nothing was out of place. It was one lesson that his father had taught him, that he begrudgingly had taken to heart with him into adulthood and as the current leader of the Empire. 

 

A ship only ran as good as the people who were aboard it.

 

So he only had the best to be his generals, both in combat and who would be able to support him as a leader. They kept the ship running and in return he gave them a place to stay. In an odd sort of way the generals and him were a family.

 

His eyes landed on Lance and for a quick second he smiled. Maybe the odd family could accept another member?

 

Lance could only stand in silence, his mind going through his thoughts. He knew that he couldn’t escape without distractions, but what could he do without the team there to give him courage to go through with anything?

 

Then his blood ran cold when Axca announced that they had found another signal of Voltron. As Zethrid gave a cheer, Lance felt himself crawling into his mind. It came up with countless scenarios, each one growing worse than the last.

The worst thing about the whole situation was that he couldn’t warn his friends.

 

When his knees hit the floor, Lance knew that even if Lotor treated him well for a prisoner, the prince was still going to attack his friends. He was going to make Lance watch as he took down Voltron and take his friends prisoners. That was the only outcome with no paladin to pilot the Red Lion. Even if Shiro could, that still left the possibility of Voltron being captured.

 

He remembered that disaster of an incident and he knew it would repeat.

 

All he could do was curl in on himself, trying to find something that was familiar, something that would bring comfort. Lance didn’t feel the clawed hands touch his back nor the concerned look Lotor had while he watched the paladin. He knew the signs of what was happening to the other, but he honestly didn’t know what action to take to snap them back to reality.

 

He didn’t to cause Lance any more harm than what he’s done already.

 

The only thing he could do was pick up Lance and bring him back to his room. Lotor noticed how light the paladin is, a moment of concern to feed the boy more food passing through his mind. As quickly as he could, he jogged down the halls that lead to his room.

 

When Lotor reached his room, he placed the paladin down on the bed as best he could. Then he dug through his bedside table, finding the pill he gave to Lance earlier on his ship. It would give him the chance to relax while a battle raged on.

 

“Here.” He whispered, giving the other the pill. Lance’s eyes didn’t open as he took the pill and swallowed it.

 

As Lotor was leaving the room, he heard “Don’t hurt my friends. Please don’t hurt them.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for changing the chapters, but I do have a new chapter to make up for that!
> 
> Hopefully you guys like it. (I did because I finally got to write a scene where Lance braided Lotor's hair. I meant to do it in one of my earlier fics, but couldn't fit it anywhere in the plot.)


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, there is a graphic description of ants in a dream sequence. I didn't want to freak out anyone too badly without a warning. (Unlike Animorphs that gives you a nightmarish description of ants trying to tear the kids apart in ant morph. Curse you K.A. Applegate for making a good series for kids with such descriptions.)
> 
> But I had fun writing this chapter. The next chapter may be the last one, who knows with me? Hopefully I can finish this up without any problems :D

When arriving back at the bridge, Lotor knew he had to fight the rest of the Voltron team. It didn’t matter that he might be developing certain type of feelings for the Red Paladin, he still had to run the Empire. That includes eradicating Voltron from existence. It would let the empire flourish much more than it would with Voltron there to hinder its progress.

 

It was his father’s downfall that he wasn’t able to get rid of it. At least what he heard from Hagger on the subject of his father when becoming the new leader. 

 

“Narti, get the ship to where the signal is. Zethrid be on standby when the castle starts to shoot at us. Acxa you will be in charge of them while I go to battle the lions.” Lotor said, placing himself in his chair. Under one of his arms was his helmet.

 

“Understood sir.” Acxa said, steeling her face that she used for battle.

 

He watched his generals quickly move around the room. They moved around each other with ease, much more than he would expect the Voltron team without their Red Paladin.

 

As the ship went through a wormhole, his thoughts returned to Lance. He knew that he liked the paladin, much more than he anticipated when he rescued him from the room on fire. But it wasn’t enough at the moment to waver his duty to rule the Empire nor stop his mission to destroy Voltron. He knew that the Galra army would not be so lenient with him as they were with his father if he didn’t get rid of Voltron. That was a guaranteed fact for him.

 

But he also wished he could have Lance join his small knitted family.

 

“The castle is in sight. Should you go to your ship now or wait for a few more minutes?” Acxa asked. Her stance showed she was serious about the battle that was to come. That coupled with her carefully blank face, he knew she was ready to fight with him, no matter the cost.

 

“It’ll take me a few moments to get down to the hanger and get my ship going. I’ll do that now than give the Paladins a chance to use a plan against me.” He said standing up. Acxa nodded at his statement and faced towards the other generals.

 

As he left the room with his helmet, he heard Zethrid claim that they should use the cannons against the castle. It brought a smile to his face to hear Acxa with a clam tone, explaining why that wouldn’t work in this situation. He choose his odd little family well.

 

Reaching his ship, he then remembered the way his hair was. While it did keep his hair out of the way when he was on the ship, it was stacked too tall to put the helmet over his head. Lotor would need to pull it out of the bun and let it hang loose. For a moment he mourned Lance’s hard work before letting his hair down.

 

Hopefully he could have Lance either try to do the hair style again or try a whole new one. It would be a shame for the one person with gentle hands to be lost to the other side.

 

With that thought in mind, Lotor turned his ship on.

______________________________

 

Keith was angry. That was the simplest way of how he felt at the moment as dashed to the Black Lion. After the fact of Lance being kidnapped to one of the Galra ship, Keith didn’t have much self control. Lance was the one that kept him calm in tense moments and made him see the bigger picture with the rest of team when Shiro was lost.

 

So the fact that Lotor’s ship shows up to the castle after Lance being kidnapped, he didn’t have enough patience to simply think things out. He wanted Lance back on the team and he wanted him now.

 

Vaguely he could hear his teammates, shouting at him to calm down through his helmet. But in the moment he could only listen to his rage that ran rampant through his body . He pushed his body to get to the Black Lion faster. If he pushed himself to go faster than that meant seeing the new Galra Leader sooner. It also meant getting answers of where the Galra were keeping Lance if he wasn’t with Lotor.

 

He could feel a faint connection in the back of his mind as he got closer to the Black Lion. He also ignored that, focusing on the battle that would come and the he could rescue Lance. Keith didn’t need an distractions if he wanted to do both things successfully.

 

_ ‘Why are you so full of anger, little one?’  _

 

This new voice in his head made him skid to a stop. Quickly looking around to find whoever was trying to mess with him, he heard a low chuckle in his head once more.  _ ‘I do not mean any harm to you nor the team. I just want to know why you are so angry.’ _

 

“Who are you?” Keith shouted into the empty hallway. His shoulders started to tense up and he could feel his body going into fight mode. It was a familiar move for him as he continued to fight the war against the Galra empire.

 

For a few moments the voice didn’t speak. Then softly, the voice gave him an answer. _ ‘I’m the one they call the Black Lion. I’m the one who protects you and the rest of the team in battle when needed.’ _

 

“Then that means you’ve been feeling what I’ve felt since that battle against Prince Lotor?” He asked, curiosity taking control over the swelling rage.

 

_ ‘Yes. But only brief flashes. You are much more closed off than the last paladin I had. He was a leader that doubted himself, but still pulled through for the rest of the team’s sake.’  _ The Black Lion said.

 

‘You mean Shiro right?” 

 

_ ‘I suppose. I only remember how my paladins who lead their team. Names never mattered much to me unlike the other lions.’ _ For a moment, the lion went silent before speaking up once more.  _ ‘But that is not important. I as why you are angry.’ _

 

He took a few seconds to search for the answers. He knew what he felt and what he should do, but to explain that to the Black Lion? It was much similar to the therapists he had visited for much of his life. “I just want my teammate back. He was the one after Shiro disappeared to keep me from Voltron turning into a big pile of shit. I want him back to help me and the rest defeat the Galra.”

 

All the Black Lion did was chuckle at him, the timber of it close to a purr of a cat. It calmed Keith down more than he expected.  _ ‘I will talk to you more when we can rescue your friend. I believe I should start to be more open myself.’ _

 

With that the Black Lion’s voice went away, leaving Keith reeling from the power that had left his head. For a few short moments, he clutched his head. Then pulling himself together, he moved towards the hanger. 

 

When seeing the Black Lion where he had left it after Lance’s kidnapped, it brought a bitter smile to his face. Shuffling quietly, Keith slowly put a hand on the lion’s metal paw. The same feeling from before entered into his mind, providing comfort that he had when his father was around. Taking in a deep breath, he got into the Black Lion.

 

He would get Lance back no matter what.

_____________________________________

 

The battle was intense was all Lotor noted. He noticed that the Black Lion was being piloted with the same intensity he saw in the previous battle. But the difference this time was that Lance, Paladin of the Red Lion wasn’t there to guide the leader from trying to risk the safety of the team.

 

Lotor knew he had the upper hand in that regards, having years of being with his generals to know that he could trust them to do what they could to aid him in battle. All he would provide in return is that they would be respected and that he would protect them in battle.

 

With a sudden turn, he quickly evaded the Blue Lion’s obvious tatic of ramming into his ship. He scanned the rest of the battlefield, noting that the Yellow and Green Lions fought close to each other, quickly taking down ships as a tag team. Before he could type a message to Acxa about this information, the Blue Lion shot a beam of energy at him.

 

For the next few minutes, Lotor dodged the blasts of energy from both the Black and Blue Lion. Annoyance grew inside him, but he wouldn’t let him control how he got would get out of this situation nor how he would the rest of the battle.

 

Using quick turns, he noticed that each time that the lions attacks would get closer at aiming at the other. Smirking that he was tricking them into closing the attack towards he each other, Lotor waited for a few more seconds before using one last sharp turn. The small explosion that came from the beams of energy hitting each other was satisfying to see.

 

After escaping the Black and Blue lions attacks, he sent a message to his general about the tag teams. He ordered that the ship should split the two tag teams, noting that it would be easier to take them down this way rather than trying to fight them as two separate teams.

 

The screen he used was pushed to the side, wanting to fight the Green and Yellow Lions. It was getting kinda boring, not having different opponents to fight against for each battle he had with the Voltron team.

 

As he swiftly made his way towards the tag team, he kept an eye on the Black Blue lions. He noted that they didn’t move, but the lights were still on in the eyes. Mostly likely meant that the lions were repairing themselves along with the paladins making contact with each other.

 

Still Lotor moved towards the the Yellow and Green lions, the challenge of a different opponent exciting him. The different fight style that the tag team had came with its own difficulties.

 

For one the paladins didn’t just use the lions to barrage him multiply times nor use the energy beams other than to make him turn sharply. No, they made him plan a game of chase where one would dart into his ship’s range while the other stayed out of the way and then crash into his ship when he got close enough.

 

When he trying to go after the one in his range, they would dart away and let the other speed at Lotor’s ship. It was a game of chase that he didn’t like and grew frustrated at this tactic. 

 

But even with the frustration, he did noticed that the Green Lion was the one to closely surround a ship before lurring them towards the Yellow Lion. In the back of his mind, he guess that it was because the Yellow Lion could take more hits than the Green Lion could.

 

As he continued to fight the tag team, he saw a flash of red speed across the front of his ship before Lotor’s vision started to spin with his ship.

___________________________

 

_ He could feel sharp nails raking all over is arms and legs, digging into cuts that had formed from before. It felt like many of his younger siblings gripping his limbs with their fingernails when they roughhoused. Painful, but not enough to warrant him to scream in horror. _

 

_ Then he looked down at the cuts and saw the blood dripping out of them slowly. That caused him to squirm and discover he couldn’t move. It wasn’t the fact that it was blood that freaked him out, it was the way it moved out of his cuts along with him unable to move. The blood would continue to drip down his body, slowly leaving his body until he was nothing left but a dead body. _

 

_ Then he could feel something else crawling on his legs. Looking back down he saw hundreds of ants crawling into and out his cuts, not even bother by the blood flowing out of the cuts. They continued to do so up his legs until they reached his stomach, for a moment perched there quietly. _

 

_ Lance breathed a sigh of relief, ecstatic that the ants would do nothing more. When he looked back down the ants suddenly surged all over his stomach and torso, biting into the skin there. He watched in horror as the ants started to eat their way into his body. _

 

_ It got even worse when he saw that when the ants bit into him, white stuff that closely resembled ant larvae crawling their way out of his body. _

_ That’s when he let out a scream, louder than any scream he had ever done. He didn’t want to see himself getting eaten from the inside out by any living creature. Nobody deserved such torture, not even the crusty Glara Emperor himself. _

 

_ As he continued to scream, Lance could feel something soft moved its way over his body. That caused him to start thrashing, wanting this whole situation to just stop. _

 

**_“You will not be harmed, Paladin Lance.”_ ** _ Came the soothing voice.  _

 

_ Lance opened up his eyes to see a lion’s head attached to a woman’s body. The red mane glowed a soft orange and the eyes this odd creature had were willed with worry and anger. He could only answer with a scream, not sure what was real and what was not. _

 

_ The strange lion creature held out a hand that looked to be switching between a human hand and a lion’s paw. With one quick sweep over his body, the creature rid him of the ants and larvae, burning them from a fire that didn’t harm him.  It also flickered between red and yellow. _

 

_ Lance stopped screaming at this point, watching the ants being burned alive. He also noticed the creature watched his body also. Then with another sweep of the giant paw, the fire was extinguished along with the ants and larvae gone. He could also see his cuts stitching themselves back together. _

 

_ All he could do was look up at the creature, wondering who they were. _

**_“Lance, I’m here to protect and guide you. I have failed the first when you were kidnapped, but I will be here with you in spirit, guiding you through your dreams.”_ **

 

_ “Who are you?” Lance asked. Now that he wasn’t screaming his head off, he could that there were wisps of fire on the wild mane and that the body also had symbols and words moving across the skin. He also saw the deep blue eyes were filled with regret. _

 

**_“I’m the Red Lion. I protect my Paladin when they are battle and help guide them when they need me.”_ ** _ Came the deep voice. They moved closer to his head and he saw that the paws were now humans hands as they gently touched his face.  _ **_“I do not appear often for I feel that my Paladin must doing everything they can think off before reaching my help. But I will make an exception for you this one time as you can’t do much kidnapped.”_ **

 

_ “So that means that the team is close to me? They can rescue me?” He asked with unsure happiness. _

 

**_“Yes. Now I need you to wake up. If you don’t then the team will not be able to rescue you.”_ ** _ The Red Lion said. Lanced nodded eagerly. They chuckled at this action before moving their hands to his eyes. _

 

**_“Awaken now!”_ **

 

That’s when Lance awoke to the ship rumbling _.  _ All he could do for a moment was stare at the ceiling.

 

Then he moved towards the door to find the hanger.


	4. Chapter Four

The halls on the ship were silent as he walked down them. He assumed that the generals were still at the bridge, watching the battle that the fleet or Prince Lotor would have against his team. Which only served in his favour for escaping.

 

As he continued down many halls, he saw that the ship was different from other ships that he had gotten into for missions. The notable difference was that the halls and rooms weren’t draped in dark colours with a glowing purple light. Instead they had light greys and white coupled with glowing yellow and purple lights.

 

Another difference was that separate parts of the ship could control the temperature. As Lance walked down the halls, he felt that the floor was slightly chilled while the walls seemed to give off heat. He couldn’t find a panel anywhere which suggested that they were probably controlled from the bridge. 

 

It was during these moments when seeing what alien species could come up with in terms of technology. For a moment, Lance wondered that if that there wasn’t a Galra Empire out to take over the universe, that technologies that he saw during his missions could be shared with other species. That they could help each other to improve their lives rather than living in fear of the Galra Empire.

 

He reached the hanger, seeing many ships were in use. A few were left behind, obvious that they needed repair. While Lance had training in the Garrison to repair the ships that they had if left without the engineer for whatever reason, the Galra ships were unfamiliar enough that messing around to find out how they worked could cause an explosion that could hurt him.  For a moment, he let his frustration loose. Then he caged it to the back of his mind and went forth to find another way to get away.

 

He wanted to be with his team, even if he was already replaced with Shiro as the Red Paladin.

 

As his bare feet padded against the chilled floor, he looked for anything that could aid him in his escape. There had to be something else besides ships in the hanger. Then he spotted an area between two ships that had a counter with cabinets above and below these counters. There was also a space towards the end of the counter where Lance could only assume were tools hanging up.

 

Stations were the best thing he could describe for what was in the spaces between where where the ships parked. Lance assumed that they were there to store tools and other necessities close to the ships in case there was emergency that needed to be dealt with quickly.

 

Searching through several of the stations, all he could find was extra parts to the ship along with several other objects that were unidentifiable. He could feel himself getting frustrated at finding nothing and that he was useless without his bayard or the Red Lion.

 

Then he found something in the station closest to the hanger door. It looked to be a suit made to travel outside the ship, most likely for repairs. While it would be useless to him in any other situation, it would have to do for now. He had to escape while his team was close by. Lotor wouldn’t spend that long in battle against his team, likely to be playing around with them like a cat with it’s live prey.

 

He put on the suit, finding it was bigger than him like his clothing he was given. Again he couldn’t complain as it was a way to escape. The helmet fit over his head with ease and didn’t feel tight anywhere. With a deep breath, Lance went over to the closed hanger door. Looking it over, Lance saw it had no windows to see outside. There also wasn’t any handles to open the door, causing some confusion in his mind for a moment.

 

That’s when he realized that he couldn’t open the door.

 

It was like any other Galra ship or colony building that Lance visited in the past. The Galra soldiers would use a hand scanner that proved that whoever was entering or exiting was in fact a Glara soldier. How could he have forgotten such an important detail when escaping?

 

Frustration bubbled over and he took a swing at the wall near the scanner. It didn’t the wall, causing Lance to become more frustrated. Escaping by himself really wasn’t an option. Not unless he could get one of the soldiers on his side to let him out. 

 

Letting out a sigh, he returned the Galra suit to the cabinet he found it in. Taking one last look around the hanger, Lance walked back down the halls towards Lotor’s room. The walk back to the prince’s, he felt more shame for being much more useless to his team than he has before.

 

Then he spotted an open door in one of the halls. Letting himself grow curious, he went to peek into the mysterious room. For a moment Lance couldn’t comprehend  what he saw on the ship. Then the next thing he could do, was let his tears fall as he entered the room.

_________________________________

 

As the ship slowed to a spinning stop, Lotor felt himself glaring out through his window at the Red Lion. It wasn’t unusual for the Lions to move without their pilot. At least to Lotor who heard the stories from Zarkon when he had his moments of being a caring parent.

 

During those rare moments, he told stories to Lotor of how the Lions would save their Paladins if they sense that they were in danger. The one saved most often was the Red Paladin for when they bonded together, the Lion would do anything to save their paladin. 

 

So it would make sense that the Red Lion would come to help attack him with the rest of team. Lotor stole Lance away from the team and from the Red Lion itself. It will not take kindly to such a thing, if his father’s stories are correct.

 

Steering his ship away from the three lions, Lotor also saw that the Black and Blue Lions were done repairing themselves. They drifted towards the other lions, effectively trapping him in a circle. Moving in any direction would just cause them to shoot at him. It could possibly damage his ship, taking him hostage or have him blown up, easier to take down the Empire.

 

So he waited for them to attack him.

 

Then a voice spoke to him through his helmet. 

 

“This is the Black Paladin speaking. I assume this is Prince Lotor or one of his generals in the ship that’s currently being surrounded.” They took a moment to pause before speaking further to him. “If you don’t give back the Red Paladin back to us, I won’t hesitate to blow up the ship we have surrounded.”

 

“Why would I give up a valuable pawn to you right now?” Lotor replied back. He didn’t stumble over his words, sounding like the dignitary that his father and Hagger raised him to be. It would be the only thing he could use to buy him time while waiting for Axca to receive his message he sent he a few moments ago.

 

“Because if you don’t, then we’ll just blow up your ship and then attack your generals.” Came back the biting reply. Then Lotor heard the few words that the Black Paladin said to his teammates.

 

“If you do attack my generals, they will not hesitate to harm Lance if ordered to.” Lotor said. He smirked when he heard the growl that came from the Black Paladin.

 

“How do you know his name?!”

 

“No harm was done to him to gain such knowledge. Kindness is such a powerful tool to use when force will not be taken as kindly.” Lotor said easily. “After all he probably doesn’t get such kindness when he’s with his team. Something about being the sharp shooter and nothing else?”

 

There was silence on the other end. For a few moments, Lotor waited for the Black Paladin to speak up again. “He’s much more than that. He will always be more than just sharpshooter.” Came the growled answer.

 

The Black Lion raced over to his ship. Lotor made his ship move quickly to the side, letting the lion come close to crashing into the others. Energy beams missed him by inches as he raced away. He spotted Axca in the new ship, along with a few other ships by her side. 

 

He brought up a screen that displayed a video feed. He only had to wait a moment before Axca’s face popped up. She was still serious as the last time he saw her. “Axca, keep the lions at bay. Make sure that the Red Lion is kept busy while I get back to the ship. Its shown signs that it’s very protective of the Red Paladin.”

 

“Yes sir. I will report to the bridge when the Voltron team has been taken care of.” She said. Then her face disappeared from the video. All Lotor could do at this point in time was return to his ship and check in on Lance.

 

When returning to the ship, Lotor saw several soldiers loitering around, repairing any damages that was on their ships. A few gave him a wave when he walked by,  while others only gave him a glance. He continued on his way, wanting to see Lance.

 

See if he was okay.

 

Lotor’s seen breakdowns before, mostly from living with his father and the soldiers. Battle always wore down soldiers, whether they realize it or not. It was always terrible to see and even worse to experience. For him it was mostly because his father mocked him for being so weak to have a breakdown.

 

He huffed in irritation at the thought of his father. Pushing any thought about that man from his mind, Lotor went down a few more halls before reaching his room. With a muffled woosh of the door, he stepped in to see the Red Paladin nowhere to be seen. All evidence that the paladin was even here was the pulled back covers and the pleasantly odd smell that was embedded in them.

 

Stepping back into the hall, he made his way to the bridge. There were many places to hide on the ship if one knew how to. The only drawback is that Lotor knew the ship better than anyone else. That coupled with video surveillance, Lance would be found quickly. 

 

Entering the bridge, he went up to Narti’s station. The feline creature that she used to see the world swiveled it’s head towards him. He waited for a moment before speaking. “Narti, I need you to send me video surveillance of the ship from the last few hours. Our prisoner seems to have left my room and has given no indication to where he’s gone.”

 

Narti gave a firm nod and then started to type onto her computer. She always worked quickly and efficiently, producing more results than any soldier Lotor’s worked with. Besides the rest of his generals of course. For few minutes he waited by her station patiently.  Then a ding ranged out.

 

She pulled up surveillance on a bigger screen. Lotor smiled at how hard she worked, giving himself to be proud for a few short moments. Then he gave her an order to continue on the work she was doing before. Silently, she went back to her work.

 

For the next few minutes, he went over the many videos that came from all over the ship. Then he paused a video, looking at the time in the corner on the screen. It was only an hour ago that Lance was spotted going into the observatory.

 

And he hadn’t left since then.

____________________

 

Lotor quietly opened the door to the observatory. The room was bathed a dim light. It came from both starlight from the gigantic window and the lights that were set to stay at a low setting. The room was plain, only meant to be visited briefly. After all soldiers were meant to have enough leisure time to sleep, eat and repair their ships.

 

He could see the back of Lance’s back. It wasn’t shaking like it was earlier nor did it look like Lance was curling in on himself anymore. Relief flooded his body at the sight, gladly admitting to himself that he was happy to see Lance doing better.

 

Quietly he walked up to the Red Paladin, not wanting to frighten the paladin again. He could hear the soft breathing and mumbled words as he got closer. Then he saw the dried tear trails that were on Lance’s face as he sat down next to him. It tugged at his heart, but knew he had no right to do anything to the other at the moment.

 

For a long time, the two of them sat next to each other in silence. 

 

“Did you hurt them?” Lance asked. It caused Lotor to jump up slightly from the bench.

 

“No. I only battled them. They are worthy opponents it seems when they’ve had more time to adjust to the new team dynamics.” He said.

 

“I bet you would be saying something different if we had fought before Zarkon’s mistake.” Lance said softly back. Lotor could only stare at the odd alien as he looked to the stars that were outside the window.

 

“A possibility in a different universe.” 

 

Lance quietly laughed at the statement before falling silent once more. But all Lotor could do was take peaks at the paladin as the other stared out the window, possibly musing the secrets of the universe. It took everything in his will power to softly touch the cheek in a comforting manner.

 

As he willed his urge to go away, Lance spoke up again.

 

“If you didn’t have to be the Emperor of the Galra Empire, do you you would be exploring planets? Maybe even coming into contact who a few are so far from extensive space travel?”

 

“I suppose. I’ve never had much thought nor choice in what I wanted to do than my royal duty.” Was his reply. The truth was that both his father and Hagger simply didn’t allow conversations that didn’t evolve him to be a ruler of the Empire one day to be heard. 

 

“But I guess if Voltron ever took down the Empire and you didn’t take me as a prisoner, then I would help your team strengthen their ties to those who would rally behind you.”

 

“I doubt they will allow you to do since you’ve captured me.” Lance said back. He still had that look that spoke of quiet pain as focused his attention at Lotor instead of the stars and galaxies outside the window. The eyes pinned him down to the bench. It also caused his heart to speed up.

 

“There’s always time. Especially since I’m trying to reform the Empire.” 

 

“You’re trying to reform the Empire? I thought you had to follow in your father’s plans to conquer every planet there is?” Lotor understood the doubt. After all 10,000 years of the pain Zarkon caused, what good would it be to try and change something that seemed permanent. 

 

“As much as my father would love for me to continue the empire he had in mind, I have my own ways of doing things. Starting with the fact that I do not want to conquer nor rule as my father did. He is a vile monster that needed to be stopped.” Lotor said. It was so much to finally say the words about his father that he only spoke of with his generals. Especially since it was one of the Paladins that took down his father some time ago.

 

Moments went by. Then Lance put an arm around his chest. “Hey at least you’ve got those in the army to support you in your vision.”

 

All Lotor could do in the moment was to rest his head over the shorter boys’ head. He wanted to take in all the comfort Lance was offering, even if it meant he was in an uncomfortable position for a period of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit longer. It is the beginning of school season after all. So I've been kinda left with no energy after a week of getting use to a new schedule and figuring out how I should manage my time for homework. But I promise I'll get this fic done as soon as I can. 
> 
> Anyway I'm enjoying peppering in Lotor's feelings for Lance. He's such a sweetheart with those close to him <3
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Chapter Five

The both of them returned to Lotor’s room after he caught the Red Paladin drifting off to sleep. Comfortable silence settle between them as they got ready for bed. Lotor stood in his bathroom, staring at the mirror at how his hair was a half frizzy, half wavy mess from the braid Lance did earlier. 

 

It would be unacceptable for him if he wore his hair this way in front of his army or even his own father. But in the privacy of his own room, he found it endearing. It showed the evidence of the hard work that Lance had done for him, despite his situation.

 

Still he tried to get his hair to be somewhat acceptable, knowing that it would give even more evidence to the army of why he shouldn’t be a ruler to them. Even if he’s seen soldiers with worse hair care than what his hair was before, it was different when he was the son of the Emperor. He had to be presentable.

 

He looked in the mirror to see that his hair still had a wavy quality to it, but still he didn’t mind. From there he cleaned his teeth and put on clothing that he wore to bed. Heading out the door, he saw Lance looking through his books he had collect throughout his life. It was a bigger collection than most in the army would have, but he knew it was pitiful compared to planets that had entire buildings dedicated to them.

 

Lotor silently crossed the room to peak over the paladin’s shoulder. He saw the book title and it caused a soft smile to spread. “I haven’t read that in a long time. Perhaps I could read it to you before going to sleep?”

 

His voice caused Lance to jump up and give out a string of curses that couldn’t be translated directly by his translator. Still it caused him to chuckled at the flurry of faces that past through the other’s face as he realized it was only Lotor who snuck up on him.

 

“Don’t do that!” Lance hissed out at him. The pout on his face caused Lotor to chuckle for a few more seconds

 

“I didn’t want to disturb you from book hunting.” Was all he said, going to his bed. “Not many in the Galra Empire have such a collection that I have. That whole case I spent my whole life collecting.”

 

“That’s all?”

 

“I’m afraid so. With Zarkon’s way of conquest, anything that held knowledge that could be held against him was destroyed. The very few planets that were given to me to rule over years ago, I asked them for any books that I could take into my care. It took a lot of convincing and trails before I was allowed the privilege to keep such knowledge with me.” He said, pulling the covers back and got into bed. 

 

He remembered some of the rituals he had to go through to obtain some of those books. Most were hard, made to challenge those who were to be the keeper of the planet’s knowledge and history.

 

Still he knew that keeping books that were precious to the inhabitants were vital to his plan. It created trust that would be needed to keep the Empire alive. To fight against rebels such as Voltron.

 

“So you would have a planet’s record of history kept safely tucked away until your reign is stable to give back rather than holding information away from them?” The surprised tone in Lance’s voice wasn’t new. Even his generals had doubts about it the first time he presented it them.

 

“While my father prefered to rule through fear, I would rather have those I’ve conquered to trust me to take care of them. Even if it means letting them have the information to take me down if they choose to do so.” 

 

The conversation had taken a heavier turn, but still it felt good to be honest with someone about what he had planned for the empire. Lotor did allow some planets to governing themselves within the Empire and seemed to make them more loyal to Empire as a whole. It just seem much more beneficial than leading through fear. 

 

As he lowered his head to look down at the bed covers, he could hear the shuffling feet from the paladin. He stayed where he was as the other side of the bed covers were moved. Then the book that Lance was looking at was softly pushed into his lap. “How about I take you on that offer for reading?”

 

Lotor only tilted his head up slightly to see the soft look on Lance’s face. It was enough to open up the book to the first page and start reading the story. It was fairytale based on an events of a person’s life from what Lotor gathered from the other books he got from that planet. It was a tradition to create fictionalized stories of people who were important to the course of the history of the  Faird. They were a race of alien that didn’t take the Galra invasion without  fighting with everything they had.

 

It was one of the few planet’s that Lotor allowed to governed themselves. He felt that they would cause a rebellion by themselves if he didn’t. They were more independent than what the Galra were expecting. Still they provided an army that would be up and moving with a snap of his fingers if he needed them.

 

“He started his life in a family of mages. It was family filled with traditions and old magic that rivaled the royal family’s. Still he was as humbled as a  Faird could be, always encouraging others to become as strong as they could be. He was the mage of many heroes.”

 

He read about a hundred pages of the story before he noticed that Lance was asleep. The paladin’s face was a bit softer and seemed to hold an innocence that was only described in books that Lotor had read. Still he was compelled to continue to stare fondly at the other’s face, sleep the last thing on his mind. He wanted to see every little feature the paladin had, to have it burned into his memory forever.

 

He slowly moved his hand towards Lance’s face, touching it as lightly as he could. It probably wouldn’t bode well for him if he was caught doing it. It went on for a minute or two before taking his hand away. 

 

It seems that his feelings for the Red Paladin had grown in such a short time.

_______________________________

 

All Keith could do was pace back and forth in the Castle’s observatory, wondering what he could have changed to have saved Lance. With Shiro back and being an outside observer to the team’s battles, they should have had time to see the second wave of soldiers coming to Lotor’s rescue. The Red Lion even came to knock the Galra Prince down a few times!

 

So what went wrong?

 

It may have been the fact Lotor had a closer bond to his generals than previously thought. They knew how each other fought and how to strengthen weaknesses anyone of them may have. That coupled with the fact that the Voltron team barely had enough Paladins to pilot all the lions. It spelled disaster, even if all of them were willing to rescue Lance.

 

So that left training with each other. At least enough to rescue Lance away from the future Emperor of the Empire.

 

Keith looked out the window, seeing so many stars span out in front of him. While a beautiful sight in any other situation, it brought dread to the pit of his stomach. He knew that Lance liked the stars. Had to if he wanted to be a pilot for the Garrison, the most prestigious school for such a career.

 

He walked away from the window and towards the hanger. Since discovering that the Black Lion could speak to him, he’s been wanting to speak more to them. Wanted to see if the lion would talk to him if he came to them first.

Slowly he entered the hanger. The lights were dim, casting shadows on the lions, making them look more ferocious than they would be in the light. Still he silently walked across the room towards his lion. 

 

He only stood in front of the Black Lion for a few moments before their eyes light up, the only indication that were “awake”. Then they started to speak to him.  _ ‘I sense that something plagues your mind. Is it the fact we could not save your friend earlier?’ _

 

“I guess so. Just going over what the team could have done differently to at least get closer to the Galra ship. Better to know which one he is on than not to know.” He replied, taking a seat on the metal floor. For a few moments his legs were greeted with coldness before he gritted his teeth and focused on his lion.

 

_ ‘You hold so much emotions. Where will it go if you do not let it flow onwards?’  _ The Black Lion questioned. Keith could only sigh at the concern that was clear as day for the giant sentient robot.

 

“It’s better to hold them in than to let others disappoint me. That’s the way it’s been my whole life. I probably should change that if one of the Lions are concerned about it.” He said, trying to make a joke. Of course the Lion didn’t chuckle, but there was a warm feeling at the back of his mind that he took as them comforting him.

 

_ ‘Would it be better to open up to someone rather than no one?’  _ For a quick moment the Black Lion paused and then continued.  _ ‘What if we continued our talks as a way for your emotions to flow out? _

“I guess.” Was all Keith could replied to such a request.   
_____________________________

 

Lance woke with a start, remembering the dream of the Red Lion trying to comfort him once more. While he did like that someone at the Castle was concerned for his wellbeing, he did wish for a dream that didn’t play with his emotions.

 

He took a few more minutes to calm himself down before looking to the other side of the bed. White hair was splayed over the pillow and sheets and it looked to have little to no snarls despite the prince clearly a person who shifted in their sleep. 

_   
_ _ ‘Lucky bastard for having good hair despite its length.’ _ Was the thought that flitted through his mind as he slowly got out of his bed.

 

Quietly he went into the bathroom, where he saw that his hair puffed up during the night. Lance also remembered that he didn’t get a chance to do his skin care routine after the contents of the conversation that happened between them. Honestly Lance wasn’t expecting such an answer from the prince.

 

If he was being honest with himself, he expected Lotor to at least similar to Zarkon in how they rule the Galra Empire. Full of fear and force to any planet that they came across. Hearing that Lotor allowed some planets to rule over themselves and even took important books from them for safe keeping for the future when the Empire was stable, it brought a new light to the image he had.

 

It was still a person who was cruel and would use any means to achieve his goals, but  now there was a gentle edge that showed that Lotor cared how his Empire would survive. He understood that there had to be people that were willing to fight for the Empire’s sake and to push for an expansion if needed.

 

It was the smartest thing Lance had seen from the Galra Empire.

 

He sighed as he took his clothes off and stepped into what he assumed was the shower, closing the door to it close. Cautiously he pulled a lever and out came a liquid that was similar to water. It had a slight pink tinge to it and smelled of a chemical that Lance knew he had never come across. Nevertheless he let it run over his body, glad for something to clean off the grim he had collected over the last few days.

 

It only took another few minutes until he started to sing something. It was unexpected what one would remember for music in space nor the song that would get stuck in their head. Most of the time it was a pain the ass for the fact that he couldn’t listen to the song to get rid of it.

 

This time he allowed the song to replay in his mind. It was one of his favourites and one of the few things that was keeping him sane in such a situation he was in. 

 

_ “ _ _ Ev’ryone give it up for America’s favorite fighting Frenchman! _ __   
  


 

_ I’m takin’ this horse by the reins, makin’ Redcoats redder with bloodstains, _

_ And I’m never gonna stop until I make ‘em,  _ __   
_ Drop and burn ‘em up and scatter their remains _ __   
_ Watch me engagin’ em, escapin’ em _ __   
_ Enragin’ em _ __   
_ I go to France for more funds _ __   
_ I come back with more _ __   
_ Guns  _ _   
_ __ And ships.

_ And so the balance shifts _

_ We rendezvous with Rochambeau, consolidate their gifts _ __   
_ We can end this war at Yorktown, cut them off at sea, but _ _   
_ __ For this to succeed, there’s someone else we need. ”

 

“Such a lovely voice my dear, even if I can hardly understand what you’re saying.” Came Lotor’s voice that nearly had him slip in the shower. Instead of that, he gave a screech at the fact that he was heard while singing.

 

Lotor pulled a part of the door to only show Lance’s face outside the stall. He could only blush as the Galra stared at him with a look that said he didn’t appreciate that his bathroom echoed with his high pitched screech. For a few moments all Lance could do was stare back. He could feel something hot crawling through his face and down his body.

 

“I-um, It’s a- um.” He stuttered, unsure if he should talk his way out of this situation or answer the other’s question.

 

“I see that something has captured your tongue if that’s all you can say for now. I’ll leave you to clean yourself then.” With that the section on the door closed with a quick snap.

 

“It’s from Earth. It’s a musical based on a person who helped shaped a country!” Lance shouted out. Still the embarrassed feeling crawled around in his body. For the long few moments he heard nothing from the other.

 

Then a quiet chuckled reached his ears. “It sounds interesting. Perhaps you could show me the musical if we ever visit Earth.” 

 

Even if it sounded like a promise that was made with a friend, Lance knew that if he wasn’t rescued soon that the Galra may shift its focus on his home planet. They may not be lucky in the off chance that they would be able to rule themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I used a verse from Guns and Ship from Hamilton. I just recently got into the musical and couldn't resist putting it in. And yes I know I'm late to the musical, but better late than never is what they say. (Plus I figured that Lance would be a person who would like a few musicals if he was introduced to them by someone.)
> 
> Also sorry for taking so long to update. Just got caught up in the bad cycle of feeling tire from school and procrastination. Just figured I should take the long weekend to write this chapter out.
> 
> But I hope to start to develop Lance's feelings a bit more in the next few chapters before he's rescued. As we see from this chapter, Lotor realizes his feelings are growing deeper than he previously thought they would. (Also I love having the Lions talk to their Paladins. It gives off a partnership between them that I feel could be essential to form Voltron with more ease in the future.)


	6. Chapter Six

When he finished his shower, Lance took it upon himself to get something on his face. Even if he was among the Galra army as a captive, he wanted to look his best. First impressions and all as the old saying on earth went.

Taking a cautious look at some of the bottles on the bathroom counter, he read through the labels. It never occurred to him before that something that the Alteans or Galra may have something that could be horribly poisonous to humans. Food was more of an issue that anything chemical in the stuff they got from planets and space malls.

For now he would have to hope that whichever bottle he picked wouldn't end up with him writhing on the floor in pain. Covering his face with the unknown substance, he hummed another tune. Lance wouldn't dare to sing something else so soon after that incident.

While at home he was known to sing at random, here fighting a war singing like that was seen more as an annoyance than anything else. After all it was a serious issue, to save those who were trapped by the Empire and to keep those who weren't ensnared free.

As he finished up covering his face, he heard Lotor's voice through the wall, talking to someone else. For a few moments he listened to the low murmurs, wondering if it was important business being discussed or just a casual visit between Lotor and one of his generals. Then he heard a firm knock against the door of the bathroom.

"Our meal is here. Sorry it took so long to get something for the both to eat. Slipped my mind is all." Lotor said, his voice slightly muffled by the wall. As he said that, Lance felt like his stomach would eat itself from the inside out from hunger.

"Thanks for letting me know." Was all he said in reply. Quickly he dressed himself and took off his face mask as well. He came out of the bathroom to be greeted with a table that was pulled out of one of the walls with two plates set on it. A cart with two containers sat near by.  
  


Lance saw that Lotor saw sitting on his bed, looking over papers that were scribbled in an unknown language. He was muttering himself as he flipped through them, his face showing no signs of whether the papers were a good thing or a bad thing. Lance took a chair near the table and sat down.

For the next few minutes he waited for the Galra prince to finish up with his papers. Then he heard the soft sigh as Lotor came over to the table to sit with him.  
  
"Must she be demanding for an appointment at such a time?" Lotor said to himself as he took the two containers from the cart. He handed Lance one of the containers and then dished his own meal onto the plate near his seat. "The Empire is still not stable enough for me to have such diplomatic missions. Even if she insists on boarding my ship to ease my worries, it still wouldn't be enough. Too many things to go wrong, even with my generals watching over me."  
  


For a moment, Lance felt conflicted on whether he should comment that the prince had. "I'm sure that her demand for an appointment to see you has some important things to discuss."

"For her in particular that is true." Lotor said with a sigh. "Probably wants to discuss what she should do with her older brother since he refused the throne."

Lotor didn't say anymore after that, digging into his food with vigor that kinda made Lance slightly sick to watch. Looking away from the prince, he dug into his own food, trying to get a taste for what he liked and what he didn't.

He expected the Galra to eat something similar to the green goo that he had seen on the Castle when the team first arrived there. But what was in front of him looked to be actually be something that could be eaten by people. Some of the food was similar to a few things on Earth.

While he took his time to eat, Lotor finished much quicker than him. When looking over at him, Lotor looked slightly embarrassed. "I apologize for that display, I'm afraid that I was more hungry than I originally thought." He said, a light purple dusting his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

"It was a few days since we ate something. Not gonna judge you for wanting to eat like that. Look away from you, yes because that is kinda nauseating to watch, but definitely not gonna judge."

"Still I apologize. I was raised better than that."

"My mother would love you for saying that. She's all for the manners and such. Probably would have jabbed me in the ribcage with her elbow as a subtle way of reminding me I could be such a well mannered as you if I put in the effort." Lance rambled as he took another bite.

All he heard was a chuckle from the prince. Lance smiled before he took another bite of this meal that was quite heavenly. Then there came a knock on the door to the spacious bedroom.

"Sir, if you're finished with your meal shall I take you to the room where you'll met the Farid?" One of the generals asked. Her voice was muffled by the door, so Lance couldn't quite place who it was that was talking.

"I'll be going in a few ticks. Please prepare the main ship to on the lookout for Voltron. Send me any messages if there is any sightings." Lotor said. It was such a difference to see Lotor switch from being comfortable to  being a leader in a matter of seconds.

Then he gave Lance a look that promised trouble. "How about you come with me to see how Galra diplomats work. Or at least how I work as a diplomat. I think it would greatly benefit your perspective more than just seeing how the Alteans did it."

All Lance could do was nod in return.

____________________________

As Lance stood by the window, he watched the Farid ship make its way into view. In the background, he heard the sound of tapping coming from Lotor as he typed out something on the what looked to be a tablet, to send to his generals. From the distance he could see the bright colours of the ship, popping out against the black emptiness of space.  As the ship drew closer, the small details of the ship became clearer. The most glaring one was the size of the cannons that hung on the side of the ship. But other details such as the way the colours of the ship came together to remind Lance of the ocean at sunrise. 

The colours ranging from red to yellow. He  took it all in, reminded so much of home. He could feel in his heart the pang of homesickness that he wished would go away.

After all he was fighting a war and on top of that he was kidnapped. He couldn't dwell on feelings that wouldn't help save him from danger.

Lotor then stood next to him at the window, watching the other ship slowly dock on the Galra warship. For a moment they stayed this way, just letting each other be in the other's presence. Lance then leaned slightly onto the Galra prince's body, noting how warm the other was even with the protective armour he had on. In return Lotor gently combed through his hair with one of his hands. 

He nearly cried at the gentle touch, wondering how long its been since he's been touched in such a friendly manner. While he did get the occasional hug or pat on the back at the Castle, it wasn't the same as someone just casually touching him this way. The feeling of homesickness crashed into him and he had to try everything to keep him sobbing into the other's arms.

"Do I need to know anything about the Faird before they arrive to this room?" Lance asked. He could hear his voice crack, but he tried not to dwell on it. It would give him further reason to start crying.

"The one Faird that you will meet will be a bit different than the rest of them. Try not to make any comment about it unless he brings it up." Lotor said, placing his head on top of the other.

"I'll note that then."

Then there was a knock on the door. Lotor mumbled something into his hair and then went over to greet whoever was on the other side of the door. Lance stayed by the window for a few more seconds, staring into the vast emptiness until he heard the sound of several voices saying that they missed Lotor a lot.

He turned around and was surprised with how the Faird looked. No wonder the Galra had a hard time fighting them.

While humanoid looking with the body, arms and legs, it had two limbs that came from the back, near the shoulder area. At the end of the limbs, all Lance could describe it was like long curved blades. They came around the sides and the arms of the body, as if they were in a constant state of protecting themselves.

Perfect protection from the Galra who were very aggressive.

The few Faird (Who Lance guessed were either guards or servants) gathered around the Galra Prince, excitedly asking him questions. Lotor greeted them with a cheerful tone in his voice. Lance quietly walked up to the group, unsure of what he should do. While he would have gone into flirt mode for this type of diplomatic mission, that plan went out the window as soon as he saw the appearance of the several Faird. Didn't really need to have a stab wound on a diplomatic mission.

He watched as Lotor talked to the aliens with positivity that was rare to see. Then one of the Faird walked up to him with a smile on their face. They stood a few inches taller than Lance and had a gentle tan to their skin. Their shoulder length blonde hair that was mixed with a light colour purple framed their face, making them appear docile even with the weapon like limbs.

"I see Lotor has brought a new companion. You must be very special." Came the soft voice from the Faird. They looked down at him, seemingly happy that he was there.

"I'm just here on Lotor's orders. Nothing big." He said, nonchalantly. They hummed in acknowledgement before standing next to him. The both of them watched Lotor as he continued to chat with the few aliens around him. It seemed that Lotor had created a decent relationship with the planet that even the alien populace liked him a lot.

Then they all scrambled to form a straight line when (Lance hoped he was guessing correctly) a female Faird came through the door. She had a feminine looking face by human standards along with short red hair that only went to her chin. The red hair had light blue mixed into it from the bottom half. Her weapon like limbs seemed to wrap closer around her body than those around her. The way she stood spoke of a commanding leader. She walked in the room slowly, looking everything over.

And then he saw her go into a short sprinted run towards Lotor with a playful grin on her face. Her limbs pulled themselves around her body to her back, where they folded up and stayed on her back. This action allow her to give a crushing hug to the Lotor. "Prince Lotor I'm so glad to see you! I hope this meeting wasn't too much trouble." She said cheerfully.

"It wasn't much of an issue besides your timing." Lotor replied, not looking too fazed at the hug. The female Faird gave a hearty chuckle before letting him go.

"It was an important matter I'm afraid. He does want to marry his beloved extremely soon. You do know how stubborn he can be about issues that are important to him." She said, rolling her eyes in a friendly manner. For a quick moment, Lotor's face betrayed a blissful smile that the statement. Then he forced himself to make his face blank.

"I'm sure I can help with the issue that he's presented to you."

"And I'm sure he'll apprciate your effort. Now we get to business." She said, using her arm to pull him towards the table in the room.

Lance watched as the servants that were brought with the Faird diplomat as they are ordered to bring the Galra prince the usual food for him. Happily she walked to the table with Lotor following behind her, Lance was left wondering what he was supposed to do. He looked over to his side to see the one Faird still standing beside him. 

They gave him a side eye glance before touching him gently on the shoulder with their hand. "I am Cie. I'll be your guide for the day. It's what Anelia has ordered me to do for Lotor's guest while they have a meeting together."

"He bring guest with him to these types of meetings?" Lance asked. Cie didn't answer as they gently guided him out of the room.

"Every now and then when he does visit our Queen, he has one of his generals with him. Anelia doesn't like to discuss our affairs with anyone, but the prince himself. So I have been ordered to keep them occupied while they talk to each other in the meeting room." They explained as the both of them entered into the hallway. 

"You trust him that much?" He asked, wonder embedded into his tone. Cie gave him a smile that was soft.

"He has proven himself to be trusted by our people. If he didn't, his head would have been mounted on the Queen's wall." They said, still holding a soft smile. Their hair swayed slightly as they walked forward, leaving Lance to have revelation of the Faird. 

"Where are we going anyway?" He asked as he jogged to catch up to them. 

"We are going to board the ship that the Queen traveled on. Usually when her brother is brought along on diplomatic missions such as this one, she likes him to have a visitor. " They said to him as they put on a hand on his shoulder to guide him in the right direction," Though usually when they visit Prince Lotor, it is one of the generals that he talks to."

"Guess I'll be a surprise for the Faird Prince then." Lance replied. From the corner of his eye he saw the grin that the Faird was trying to keep from spreading wide across their step.

The both of them traveled through the hallways of the Galra ship, making their way towards the other ship. The Faird would make a comment about the ship to him every once in a while. Then the both of them then reached the entrance of the other ship. The door that lead them in was a dusty rose colour. The hallways were also the same colour as the door with the lights casting down a pale blue light. The whole place gave off the eternal fairytale feel and Lance was unsure if that was a good or bad thing with an alien race looked like they should slice his head off easily.

After going down a few hallways, Cie stopped in front of a door that was painted a dark blue. They pressed a hand against something on the wall beside it and the door opened up with a quiet whoosh. For a moment Lance was blinded by the artifcial sunlight that poured out of the door. Then when his eyes adjusted to the light, Cie guided him into the room.

What he saw was a beautiful sight. 

In front of him was a garden that looked as alien as he would have expected from space. It had pale yellow walls with strange purple vines climbed up the side. Nestled in the vines were containers that were beautifully painted with scenes of battle and victory. In these containers were different plants, all healthy looking and those that beared fruit, looked good enough to pick from them. Then there were the trees that were planted in the ground. They were almost as tall as the walls, which became a minor concern to Lance.

Then the Faird walked past him towards a bench that was near one of the trees. There Lance saw one of the more beautiful aliens he's seen with all the travelling he's done in space.

"Lotor's guest, this is Prince Gabriel. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you visiting him." They spoke, gesturing towards the beautiful Faird. 

Lance saw that instead of having his extra limbs around his body, the Faird Prince had his limbs hidden behind his wasit long red hair. As the prince moved his head to have a look at who was Lotor's guest, his fiery red hair that had a warm yellow in it parts of his hair was moved over his shoulder by one of his hands. This action showed what his folded up limbs looked like to Lance/

He had hands instead of the curved blades like the other Faird Lance had seen.

________________________________________

Lotor stood in front of Anelia as she took out a piece of paper that had Gabriel's looped handwriting on it. While he understood the impatience of the slighter older man to marry his beloved, it still came at a bad time for him. He needed more time to stabilize his reign in the Empire before doing diplomatic missions.

"I'm sure you're very busy Lotor, but please settle this issue before I have a potential outcry from my subjects. You do know that they've never liked my older brother for the way he is. Too much of a pacifist for them." She said, laying the paper down on the table. Her amber eyes watched for his reaction, trying to see if he would give her an opening on why he had brought a guest instead of one of his generals. She had always been too nosy, even when they were children.

"I do understand your concern. Still it couldn't have waited a bit long when I could go on missions for diplomacy? When it wasn't suspicious for me to go for periods of time without a rebellion being planned for my demise?" He questioned, looking down at her.

"I'm afraid any longer without doing something for my brother would have resulted in his death. The people don't like that he didn't take the crown as they saw it as a way to regain their favour. Since he won't do that, he must marry to be seen as a member of the royal family that won't plan to murder me for power."

"The way your people think sometimes leaves me to wonder how your family has stayed in power and alive for so many years." Lotor said, looking towards the window to see the edge of Anelia's warship. It was a bright colour that made him wonder how she was never shot out of the sky. She claimed that it gave a friendlier sight than his warship which was a mix of dark colours to blend into the darkness of space.

"That's mostly the older generations talking like that. The ones who expect us to keep up tirelessly old traditions. The younger generations are suspected to want change and see it most in Gabriel." Anelia said. He looked back at her, watching as her eyes also went to the window as well.

"All speculation on your part?" He asked.

"On Gabriel's and his beloved to be frank. That man was a common citizen at one point, if you do remember from my letters Lotor. He knows more about what the common people want than any of my family or our royal advisors."

"A pity since he probably knows to run a kingdom better than anyone I've seen on this planet." He said. Lotor paused for a moment before continuing, "After you of course."

She gave a soft chuckle at that. Her amber eyes returned to him, still looking for anything for her to pick on him about. "Don't try to flatter me. I know he could run the planet much better than me and that is a fact. Probably has to do with his hybrid nature, able to think differently than the rest of us purebred."

"Still he knew better than trying to rule with how the public detests him. He knew you would have a better reign than he ever would." He said softly. Anelia gave a half hearted chuckle before moving the paper towards him.

"Since you've been caught up, how about we sign it? Just so I can ask why you've brought a guest with you instead of one of your generals for a meeting such as this."

"You won't get much information about that. He's a pawn to use to stop Voltron. I have to keep him close or there'll be trouble for all of the Empire if he escapes." Lotor said as he signed the document. He knew that he was supposed to read it, in case they tried to sign their way out of the Empire. Still he knew Anelia well enough that she wouldn't try to. She would have used a much more clever way than that.

"Still doesn't mean that there isn't more going on. You can't lie to me because I'm the one who taught you how to during your first exile. Now besides the factual reason you've brought him here, why is he here?" She asked. He could see in eyes that there would be no way to get out of answering her.

"To show him that I'm a man of my word when I say that I'll allow the planets I rule over to govern themselves. Seeing proof is much better than words being said." He said with some reluctance. He closed his eyes as he waited for whatever reaction Anelia had for him.

"To show you can be his beloved." Was all she said. He opened one of his eyes to see her mischievous grin. "How about we go see if the guide has shown your guest to Gabriel. I have a feeling he may take a liking to you after talking to my brother."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's just a rewrite for this update. I ran into a wall when writting the next chapter and figured out it was what I had written for this chapter. Hopefully this flows a lot better for reading and for the next chapter I'll write.
> 
> I still kept in the alien race in the story as I feel it would give Lance more reason to trust Lotor after he sees how content that they are with how Lotor rules. Plus I wanted to expand more on what was said in season three about Lotor letting some of the planet's rule themselves. It was interesting thing to hear after being with Zarkon as a leader for two seasons. It really gave Lotor his own identity on he operates as a person and a would be leader.
> 
> Again I'm sorry for this update being a rewrite. It was bugging me so much how disconnected parts of the chapter felt from the rest of the story. (And hopefully I won;t have to do that agian within the story.)
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy the rewrite :D


	7. Chapter 7

Keith stood on the bridge of the Castle, looking out of the window. Despite his insistence to find and get Lance back, the rest of the team started to drift away from that goal after several weeks. They got distracted with information and missions that The Blade of Marmora had given to the team and it took priority over getting Lance back.

 

It still pissed him off that the team did that again. They pushed off finding a teammate, an important one at that, once again. He thought after the whole thing with Shiro, that they would be more willing to get a teammate back.

 

As Keith started to pace back and forth, silently seething about the team, he didn’t notice anyone enter the room. Mumbling to himself curse words and half baked threats to get his team to get back to prioritizing Lance’s rescue for a time being, he nearly cracked his skull against the window when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

 

He whipping his head around to glare whoever gave him such a scare. As he saw Coran’s face, full of concern along with his orange hair and mustache, Keith sighed. While he was mad at most of his teammates for not focusing on a plan to rescue Lance, Coran was one of the few who seemed as desperate to get the paladin back as much as Keith did.

 

“Sorry for scaring you out of your wits my boy. Just checking in on you.” Coran said softly. It was always odd to see the man without his cheerful attitude when they talked one on one. In a way it was similar to how Lance would tried to brighten up everyone’s day at the Castle. Sometimes it was needed and other times it was not.

 

Still Keith missed the comments that were at many times too corny to not laugh at that the other boy would provide.

 

“I’m fine.” He got out, not sure if he wanted spill how much frustration he was currently feeling. Coran just gave a small nod at his comment before heading towards control panel that the bridge had.

 

They stayed in silence for a few minutes. Keith stared back out into space, wondering where Lotor was keeping Lance and if he was treating him well at all. While the comment that Lotor had said about using kindness to gain Lance’s name made him angry beyond anything, he still wanted Lance to be treated with as much kindness that the Galra Prince might have. 

 

Keith didn’t want Lance to be broken by the very people they were fighting against. Not this early in the war.

 

As he took a deep breath in, he heard Coran shuffling behind him. And then he heard a sound of exclamation before the room turned dark. Keith turned around to see the hologram map that Allura had shown him and the rest of the team the first time they had been on the Castle. Coran was standing off to the side of the hologram, smiling brightly at it.

 

“I knew I could get it to work again!” Coran said, his eyes looking over at Keith.

 

“Why did you? I mean Allura really hasn’t used it since we entered the Castle the first time.” He said. While it was an impressive to see it again, he wasn’t quite sure why the orange haired man brought it up during this moment.

 

“I wanted to cheer you up of course! It seemed to help Lance the last time I did this for him. Homesick for your planet and all.” The older man said as he walked around to the other side of the hologram map that showed the solar system they were in currently.

 

Keith raised his eyebrows at the new information he was given. While he wasn’t quite homesick for Earth since he was considered an outcast for most of his life, someone like Lance who was as the definition of a social butterfly didn’t seem as susceptible to fall into homesickness that Coran was describing.

 

“He was homesick?” Keith questioned quietly.

 

Coran heard him and gave a sad sort of smile that Keith never seen on the man before. “He said that he missed the ocean that he visited with his family yearly. Also the water that fell from the sky.”

 

“Rain.” Was what he breathed out. 

 

It was starting to click into place the subtle little things that Lance had done to make sure the team was happy. That they weren’t quite suffering the homesickness that he must have been feeling. His shoulders started to tense up at all the thoughts that churned around in his mind, wondering why he didn’t notice earlier.

 

Softly a voice said in his mind “ _ A leader can not take on everyone’s problems by themselves. All they can do is help their teammates with their problems.” _

 

He only relaxed slightly at the voice of the Black Lion. Still even the advise wasn’t enough to ease his guilty conscious. He looked over at Coran and still saw the same sad smile that the Altean wore as he played around with the hologram map.

 

And then the words from the Black Lion also clicked into place in his mind.

 

“Hey Coran, do you think we could plan something to rescue Lance?”

__________________________

 

Keith lead Coran to the hanger where the Black Lion stood. It was currently off, but he hoped that it would turn on for him to discuss a plan to help get Lance back. They walked up to the machine and suddenly he felt unsure if he wanted Coran to know that the Black Lion was talking to him telepathically.

 

Before he could change his mind and drag the Altean out of the hanger, the Black Lion’s eyes light up. It shifted its body from the usual sitting position that i t had to laying down. With its head closer to the ground, it felt like the Black Lion wanted to be as close as it could with the conversation.

 

Keith took a deep breath before he spoke to his lion. “You said that leaders shouldn’t take on everyone’s problems by themselves. Well I’m here with you and Coran to get help to save our teammate.”

 

_ “That was my advice. Though I wish there was more than the one person to help you try and rescue your teammate.”  _ The Black Lion said, their voice showing their disappointment.

 

“Well Coran seems to be the only one at the moment whose willing to help with the rescue mission. The rest have their own thing or helping with missions with The Blade of Marmora to come help with this.” He said back. He glanced over at Coran to see the Altean gaping at the both of them. For a few moments all three of them stayed silent, waiting for someone to speak up.

 

“This is truly amazing Keith. I’ve never seen a Paladin talking with their lion like this before.” Coran said. In that moment he looked like he embodied amazement at this discovery. “When did this happen?”

 

“It was when we tried to take Lance back a few weeks ago.” Keith said. “Right before I joined the battle to be exact.”

 

_ “My Paladin was filled with so many emotions that I could not ignore him. So I spoke to him, wanting to reach out.”  _ The Black Lion said to the both of them. The look on Coran’s face as he heard the lion’s voice was one that Keith would never forget.

 

“This is truly amazing.” Was all the Altean could say.

 

Keith put a hand on the other’s shoulder, trying to keep Coran grounded so they could get through a conversation. Through his fingers, he could feel blood flowing quickly in excitement. “After we get this whole rescue mission planned out, I’ll let you come to some of our talks. It would be nice to have someone else for a change.”

 

“I’ll do my best with helping rescue Lance than!” Came the proclamation. All Keith could do was smile at the excitement that Coran had.

  
_ “Shall we start with  planning our rescue mission?”  _ The Black Lion said, amusement clear as day in their tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a shorter chapter than usual and we don't even have Lotor and Lance in the chapter either! Shocking is all I can say about me for doing such a thing.
> 
> I kid, but I did want to focus a bit on the rescue part of the fic for a chapter rather than going back and forth between the Voltron team and Lotor and Lance. It would have felted a bit crowded to me.
> 
> But anyway, I hope that you like that more people know about the Black Lion talking to Keith. Of course it had to be Coran since he's so passionate about the Lions. (The season three thing where he wanted to be one of the Paladin was extremely dorky and cute to me.) Anyone else to discover such a thing was happening and it would have gotten too heavy for what Keith is trying to accomplish by rescuing Lance. 
> 
> Anyway I hope you like the chapter. I promise that the next chapter will have some Lotor and Lance in it.


	8. Chapter 8

To say that Lance was shocked at the appearance of the Faird prince’s limbs would be obvious. Still he tried to keep his surprise to the minimum, unsure if it would be offensive or not to point out the obvious physical difference that Gabriel had from the rest of the people he had seen of the Faird. Cie only patted him once on the back before they wandered into a different part of the beautiful garden.

Lance knew that was their way of saying that he was left to try and talk to a royal member of an alien race by himself. With a hand, the prince motioned him to sit beside him. Lance took the last few steps towards the bench and sat down. For a few moments they stared at each other, taking in each other’s appearance.

Lance saw the beautiful amber eyes that held so much intelligence in them. It reminded him of Lotor’s eyes, cunning and seeing every possible angle of a situation that could benefit him and his future as Emperor of the Galra Empire.

Then the prince gave a smile that melted Lance’s heart more than he would ever admit. “You have the same colour of eyes my mother had. She could make any person she came across to fall for her with those eyes.” Gabriel said. The timber of his voice was soft, similar to when Lance would try to get one of his baby cousins to sleep.

“Glad to know I have such nice eyes that remind you of your mother.” Lance mumbled, unsure how to answer the prince’s statement.

“That’s not the only thing nice about you, Prince Lotor’s guest. Even if I could see your struggle over my appearance, I’m glad you didn’t point it out.” He said, his smile gaining a single dimple on one of his cheeks. Lance’s heart melted even further.

“I just figured you would be insulted if I made a dramatic declaration. New alien race and all, I didn’t know what would be insulting or not.”

“A good mindset to have. But I do understand that someone will have questions after seeing the difference between me and the rest of my species. It’s only natural for curiosity to arise.” Gabriel said. Lance felt so hypnotized by the words as the other spoke to him. Yet despite that feeling he had around this alien prince, it wasn’t the same as when he talked to Lotor.

“I imagine it becomes tiring when others only talk about your difference.” Lance said in reply. As he said that, Gabriel’s eyes shined with wonder that he couldn’t quite understand. Still he couldn’t look away, hoping to understand what the other was thinking.

“Such empathy. I wonder what species you are?” Gabriel asked, focusing his attention towards the garden for a moment.

“I’m human.” Was all he could say. Again he was unsure what the Faird prince wanted. There was a guarded look around the prince’s eyes despite being so expressive that made it impossible for Lance to figure out what the prince was after.

“The same as her then,” Came the reply,”I always hoped to find another of her kind in my lifetime.”

He felt his eyes widen at the other’s statement. It felt like the time when Keith had admitted to being half Galra to the rest of the team. “Your mother was human? How is that possible this far out in the universe?”

“My father was known for his odd taste in other alien species. My mother happen to be one of those things.” Gabriel said with a shrug of the shoulders. Still Lance could see he was staring off into the distance, as if he was reliving a memory. “He just happen to like her enough to marry her and then have me.”

“She must have been something else.” Lance said quietly. All Gabriel did was hum in agreement. The two of them stayed like that for a while, not disturbing each other from their thoughts.

Lance saw Cie trimming some of the vines on the wall that were either growing too big or were dying off. They used their blade like limbs to do this task and he was entranced by how graceful they looked as did it. For a few moments he stared at them as they continued with their task.

And then he felt a light jab at his side. Glancing over at Gabriel, he saw a smirk filled with mischief as his arms were still folded in his lap. Lance knew he was the only one close enough to poke him and yet he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. “Never knew a prince could be this silly.”

“Than you’ve never been around royalty such as my sister and I.” The Faird prince said, his smirk growing wider, “We were known as terrors in our castle, both within our family and diplomats that visited us. It was wonder we didn’t get caught for most of the stuff we did. Especially when Lotor was involved”

“Lotor did that kind of stuff with you and your sister?” Lance mused. He could vaguely imagine a smaller Lotor with a more youthful face and shorter hair running around with the Faird siblings in their castle. What they could get up to was also up to his imagination since he hasn’t known the three of them as well as they did.

“Oh he was a real trouble maker in his younger days. He was the one who did most of the planning whenever he and his father visited the castle.’ There was a pause from Gabriel as if he was carefully trying to pick his next words to say to Lance, “I think he did it with us because I figure it was his way of getting back his father without receiving a harsh punishment since my father didn’t mind the three of misbehaving sometimes.”

The memory of Lotor saying he wanted to be a better ruler than his father ever was bubbled to the surface of Lance’s mind.

_“So you would have a planet’s record of history kept safely tucked away until your reign is stable to give back rather than holding information away from them?” The surprised tone in Lance’s voice wasn’t new. Even his generals had doubts about it the first time he presented it them._

_“While my father prefered to rule through fear, I would rather have those I’ve conquered to trust me to take care of them. Even if it means letting them have the information to take me down if they choose to do so.”_

While Lance was still curious how the Galra prince came to that conclusion in that moment, slowly he started to see more pieces of the puzzle that was set out in front of him. It was obvious that Lotor was friends with the Queen and Prince of Faird since childhood since they whole planet was taken into the Galra Empire some time ago. For now all he could conclude was that Lotor didn’t want to be above his friends in the way his father was for most of their lives.

He wanted to be equals with them in every possible way. Even if it mean they decided to leave the Galra Empire.

“It would be nice to see Lotor when he was a troublemaker. I bet he was as clever as he is now.” He said wistfully. There was a hum if acknowledgement from Gabriel as the conversation came to a halt for a moment.

Then Gabriel lifted one of his arms that was folded on his back. Other than the fact that he had an extra set of hands instead of the curved blades, the way he moved them was similar to what Lance saw before with Cie and Anelia when they moved to fold their limbs up.

The prince turned to face towards Lance and he was suddenly hit with a new wave of appreciation for how beautiful the Faird looked. The amber eyes of the prince glowed with something unnameable as his limbs reached over to touch Lance’s temples. “I can show you if you wish to see a memory or two.”

“Ho-how would you do that?” Lance asked, stumbling a bit over his words.

“The Faird have a way to store memories besides writing it down on paper. We can retreat into our mind to look at memories or anything else we’ve stored that we’ve deemed important.” Gabriel said, still holding his hands to Lance’s temples. “ Of course on a few occasions we can share memories with others if they permit it.”

“So it won’t hurt that much?

“Not if you allow it to hurt. Would you like to see some memories of Prince Lotor when he was younger and such a troublemaker?” The prince said with a soft smile.

All Lance could do was nod in reply. The beautiful amber eyes closed and for a few moments they stayed this way, sitting on a bench in a garden that Lance wish he could showed to his family or even team Voltron. Then he was suddenly in a library with shelves that were filled to the brim with books and other various objects that he didn’t know about.

Gabriel stood at one of the rows of shelves, muttering to himself about which way to go. Lance walked closer to the alien, not wanting to get lost in such a huge place. The height difference between the both of them was staggering as he got closer to the mumbling prince. Lance even guessed that Faird prince could be taller than Lotor by a head and half.

As he continued to stare up at the beautiful alien, he wondered how such a race as the Faird would ever let the Galra ever take them over. Was it to stop a horrible, gruesome war or something more that Lance was unaware of?

Then he felt one of the hands grab onto his shoulders to drag him along the rows of shelves. Quickly they passed shelves and areas that were behind big closed doors as Gabriel went towards the section where they were suppose to be. All Lance could do was walk as quickly as could to keep up and hope that they would arrive at their destination soon.

Then Gabriel stopped near an opening that showed several bookshelves being positioned to be a circle around two couches that faced each other. Between the couches was a beige coffee table with a lamp and several books stacked on top of it. Gabriel made his way to one of the couches and motioned Lance to follow him.

As they sat down on the same couch, the Faird prince picked up one of the books that was on the coffee table and opened it. In that moment that the cover touched the coffee table, Lance was transported into a memory.

_The colours and objects of the memory looked to be a bit faded as he looked around as best he could. His movement felt sluggish, like he was in a dream rather than a memory. Looking down at his body, he could see how much more colourful he was compared to the memory as if it was a long time since the event took place._

_As he looked up, he saw the current Gabriel standing close to his younger self and his sibling as they talked quietly with each other. There was a soft smile on the Faird as he watched his younger self before he looked over at Lance. “It might be a while before Lotor shows himself. Even among his friends he was devious.”_

_All Lance could do was nod at Gabriel’s statement. The both of them watched the memory play out, walking to keep up with the two young Faird as continued down hallways that Lance wished he could have more time to marvel._

_“Gabriel, when is Lotor gonna show up? He was suppose to be here a while ago.” The younger Anelia whined, clearly not happy to be kept waiting by the other boy._

_“He’ll be here. Just make sure to keep an eye out for him. Remember last time he was here and scared us?” Younger Gabriel said as he looked down at his sister. “He’ll do it again for the fun of it.”_

_“Wish he wouldn’t do it to us. I like him better when he helps us do it to father.” Younger Anelia said with a pout. It caused her cheeks to puff out, exaggerating her expression even more. For a moment it reminded Lance of his younger siblings and cousins when they weren’t exactly happy with what their mother had told them to knock it off._

_With a chuckle at his younger sister’s expression, Gabriel said “He doesn’t do it to mean to us. It might be his way of showing off to us.”_

_“Then he should stop it then.”_

_At that moment little Anelia said that, a flurry of white popped out at them from behind one of the curtains, making an odd screeching sound as it came at the both of them. Anelia gave a whimpering sound as she quickly hid behind her brother. Gabriel on the other hand stood his ground against whatever was coming at them, letting his extra limbs comfort his scared sister._

_“Lotor I know that it’s you!” Came the indignant shout from younger Gabriel. There was a moment longer that the flurry of white continued to do the odd screeching sound before it turned into boisterous laughter._

_“I knew I was gonna pick the perfect moment to do that to the both of you. Didn’t know it was gonna be so funny.” Came Lotor’s voice as he continued to laugh._

_As the Farid royal siblings gave him a glare worthy of death, Lance felt himself wanting to coo at how cute Lotor looked. With white hair that reached his shoulders at this time, it was pulled into a small ponytail to keep out of his eyes. There was also the fact that he was so much shorter and smaller compared to Lance, that it almost felt like Lance could crush him if he sat on him wrong._

_Still there was a look of cunniness in Lotor’s eyes that remained the same from this point in time to when Lance met the Galran. It was a small comfort that said that whoever this young prince was would turn into the ruling Galra Emperor someday._

_Then Lance saw in the young Galra prince’s hand was something white and furry that he had used to give his friends a fright._

_“Come on Lotor, we only got a few minutes before our fathers are done. If it isn’t done by then, then we have failed.” Gabriel said, suddenly turning serious. Anelia nodded in agreement, her face showing that she was serious as well._

_“Oh we’ll do it on time. I set up almost everything before hiding here. Who do you think I am if I didn’t do that?” Lotor said to them. His voice took on a whining quality as if he expected better from his friends than to not trust him for a plan of theirs. Both the young and older Gabriel’s rolled their eyes at this, in almost affectionate way._

_“Let’s just go there.” Was all the young boy said before he continued down the hall. Anelia and Lotor ran to catch up with him._

_As Lance watched the three of them walk away, he peeked from the corner of his eye to see the wistful look on the Faird prince’s face. As he was about to comment something to the other man, the memory they were in started to twist in a way that made him sick looking at it._

_As he closed his eyes to keep himself from throwing up, he could hear shouting from Gabriel. At first it was loud, hurting his ears how close it was. Then slowly it started to fade out, like the memory did from how long ago it was._

And then he opened his eyes to see the garden he was in before entering the memory.

The sunlight hurt his eyes, but he kept them open as he saw Gabriel rushing over to Cie. As he watched the prince worryingly talk to his guide, he felt a hand place itself protectively over his shoulders. Lance struggled to move his neck, as if he was still in the memory, to see who it was that was touching him like that.

All he saw was the fury in Lotor’s eyes as he looked down at Lance. For a moment, he was afraid that he had somehow angered the Galra by visiting Gabriel. Then he saw how that frustration relaxed in the other’s eyes. Lance saw Anelia behind him, looking worry between the Galra prince and her older brother.

“What’s wrong?” Lance managed to get out in his stiff condition.

“It seems part of your team has found where our ships are.” Lotor answered, looking towards Gabriel and Cie to see if anything harmed them.

Then came the crashing sound of one of the ships being rammed into by a lion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this chapter done quickly as well. I was just really excited to write Lance and Gabriel interacting with each other (If you couldn't tell lol).
> 
> I hope that I've written Gabriel and what he can do good enough. Nothing can drag a fanfic down if an OC isn't interesting enough or doesn't move the plot forward. (At least in my opinion.)
> 
> Anyways the next chapter will most likely either be the last one or split in two if it gets long enough. Hopefully I can finish this whole thing up before the end of the year. Then that means I can get started on another Lancelot thing that may involve mermaids. (Because I'm weak lol)


	9. Chapter Nine

The thunderous boom that came after the purposeful hit against Lotor’s and Anelia’s joint ship, shaking the whole structure. As he struggled to stand up right through the shaking, concern ran through Lotor as he saw Lance’s eyes squeeze shut, trying to grip the underside of the bench. Even if he tried to move closer to comfort the paladin, it would be more effort than it was worth after the shaking stopped.

 

He needed every bit of energy he had to combat the Voltron team if he wanted to keep Lance as a pawn to destroy them. (Or to have someone he cared about deeply stay close to him.)

 

Once the shaking started to go away, Lotor quickly made his way around the bench to kneel near Lance. The red paladin still held on tightly to the bench and shook slightly as if the ships were still shaking. Softly as he could, he put a hand on one of Lance’s legs and started to speak quietly. 

 

“Lance, is it alright that I pick you up? We need to get you away from the battle that will occur. I need to make sure you’ll be alright.” Lotor said. He waited for Lance to slowly open his dark blue eyes and for one moment his heart stopped at the sight of them.

 

In that moment, they just stared into each other’s eyes, reading what the other was feeling. And then another boom snapped them out of it. Lance closed his eyes again as the ships shook once more. When the shaking stopped, Lance gave his answer as best as he could.

 

“Yes. Take me somewhere that’ll keep me safe.” Lance answered quietly. 

 

Lotor took one of the paladin’s hands and gave them a light squeeze. Then as carefully as he could, Lotor picked up Lance underneath his knees and cradled his head as best as he could. Feeling how tense Lance’s body was from both being abruptly ripped out of Gabriel’s power and experiencing the two massive ships shake, it was a wonder that the red paladin could even move.  

 

He lifted the other up and gave orders to Anelia and Gabriel to command their troops against Voltron. Their expressions steeled at his voice, giving him a nod that they heard his order. They followed him out of the small garden before heading towards their bridge.

 

Lotor headed in the opposite direction from them, quickly making his way out of the Faird warship. He could feel Lance gripping at his armour, almost like he was afraid that Lotor would abandon him in his weakened state. All he could in response was tighten his grip a bit more, to make sure Lance wouldn’t fall from his hold.

 

When they went onto the Galra warship, the hallway lights were flashing and Axca was giving orders for the troops to get to their stations over a sound system. He was thankful for Axca in that moment as he weaved his way through the halls. 

 

Then he entered the meeting room that the both of them were in before the Farids had arrived. The table and chairs were where Anelia and he had left them when they had had left the room earlier. Walking over to the table, he could see through the window that only the Black Lion fighting against both of the warships. Despite how stupid of a plan that would be if Lotor was in charge of Voltron, he knew that team was desperate against both his and his father’s effort to take over the universe.

 

As he gently put Lance into one of chairs, he let himself have a moment to think of a plan. He would need one if he wanted to keep Lance from gaining any further injuries.

___________________________

Keith took another sweeping beam over the two ships, watching as there was damage finally being done.  While he was used to being an offender in the battle plans that the team came up with, it was oddly harder to do by himself. Still he pushed on, wanting to damage the ships as much as he could before he could quietly slip in to rescue Lance.

 

The second ship being docked to Galra warship was a surprise. From what he saw, the ship looked to be part of the Galra Empire with the lack of the firearms that he could see. Whether they were part of the Empire willing or not, this would cause more time and damage than what the plan called for. 

 

But he ultimately decided that he needed to adjust if he wanted to get Lance back.

 

As he took another beam to sweep over the Galra ship, from the monitor in front of him notified him of several smaller ships were heading for him. Turning the Black Lion to face them, Keith saw the bright blue colour that was painted on them. So the other ship that was docked was going to help the Galra.

 

Pushing forward, Keith started to attack. While he was use to the Red Lion’s quicker attacks and being able to take a few heavy hits from others, the Black Lion was slower in both attacks and reaction time. But in exchange for those disadvantages that lion he was currently piloting had, the attacks were much more powerful and he could take more hits to than what he had with the Red Lion. 

 

As he took down the not Galra ships, he saw that the fighting style was different from what he expected from the Galra. Whoever was allied with the Galra were quicker and seemed much more likely not to be tricked again. Still he took them down, wanting to quickly go through with his plan.

 

It was the least he could do for letting the Galra capture Lance and the failure of a rescue from before.

 

Then he came across the ship that was painted as the same colour of pink as the allied ship. The other difference was that Keith could also see whoever was in the pilot seat as the glass was black out like the others. He saw an alien woman with a ferious look on her as she quickly rammed her ship into the Black Lion. Her face was framed by short red hair that could be lite aflame with how much fiery he saw in her eyes.

  
  


Even the momentary shock he went through at that move, he still shot a laser beam at her. She dodged the attack and shot a laser beam right back at him. For a few minutes they went back and forth with the attacks at each other. Every time Keith landed a shot on her ship, the fiery on her face grew. 

 

And then she rammed her ship once more into the side of the Black Lion. It was rougher than the last time she did it and he could feel the vibrations run through his lion as she quickly left to do it again. Even if he wanted to attack back, her ship was quicker to shake off the vibrations and attack him before he had the chance to strike back.

 

Over and over she did this, damaging the Black lion as he sat there helpless. Soon everything on the lion turned off and all he could do was hold his legs and arms as close to his body to keep himself from getting rattled around by the barrage of attacks the allied alien woman was coming at him with.

 

The feeling of being useless to do something as simple as rescue his friend swallowed him whole. Keith could almost fell the tears swell up in his eyes as the attacks and the useless feeling continued at him. 

 

“What right do you have to cry Black Paladin when you’ve attacked a friend of mine? Scared his beloved as well.” Came the crackle of the com on his helmet. The voice of the alien woman was dangerously calm, like a parent who was scolding a child when they were disappointed with them.

 

For a few moments, the words settled in his mind. He didn’t have much of a right to cry, he knew that. Still he wanted to cry from how much was stacked against him. “I don’t have the right. Other than I just wanted to save my friend from being captured.” Keith said back, his voice low.

 

“Then maybe you should have more than yourself to do so.” Came the cold answer from the woman before there was a click.

 

And once more he was alone, not even the enemy there to taunt him.

 

The tears quickly spilled and he harshly rubbed them away. As much as there was stacked against him, he still needed to try. He still needed to get Lance back to the Team. So all of them could rescue the universe from the Galra.

 

As he stood up and made a grab at a jetpack that was on the Black Lion, the com crackled to life once more. Keith went still as he waited for the voice of Lance’s capture or the alien woman to speak to him once more.

 

“Keith?” Came Allura’s voice. The tears that spilled over this time were of relief

 

“Allura, I’m so glad that it’s you talking to me.” He said back to her. He could hear the sigh of relief from the princess.” Honestly I was expecting much worse company.”

 

“Well I’m glad that I’m part of the better company. From what I can see, it seems that the Galra were meeting up with the Faird. They were such a fearsome race they were 10,000 years ago.” Allura said back, her lion slowly coming into view.

 

“Well it seems that they still are a fearsome race.” Keith mumbled as put on the jetpack. He looked out the window of the Black lion to see Allura’s face full of concern from how close she had gotten.

 

“Well the rest of the team is here to help rescue Lance. I know we shouldn’t have gotten as distracted as we did, but we’re here now Keith. We should get him together.” She said, voice not wavering. Her blue eyes also showed that what she wouldn’t leave him there, to battle the Galra alone.

 

“I knew Coran was gonna pull off that speech to get you guys here.” He said, chuckling a bit to himself. If it was one thing had to count on for sure in the plan that they came up with was Coran to get the rest of team here. 

 

“He was very insistence that we help you. It would be disastrous to the cause of Voltron that we lost anymore members of our team if you got captured yourself. So we’re here to have all of our teammates back together.” 

 

“Let’s hope we can do that Princess.” Keith said as he got out of the Black Lion. “Can you please take the Black Lion back a distance? I don’t want them to get injured any further.”

 

He saw Allura nod before gently moving the lion with her own back towards where the castle was. Then he look towards the two alien warships and knew he would have to do everything to get Lance back to the team.

 

It was the least he could do after all.

**__________________**

Lance watched Lotor from where he sat, stressing over the situation that was currently happening. From what he saw outside the window, the Black Lion was attacking both ships with laser beams sweeping back and forth. As each explosion created tremors throughout the Galra and Farid ships, Lance clung to the edge of the table as best as he could.

 

While he did appreciate that Gabriel did show him Lotor when he was young and seemingly more carefree, he didn’t like how stiff he had become. With the months, (hell it could be years he’s been space since time that was used on earth was odd to use), he had gotten use to his body needed to be in tip top shape if he wanted to face any battle that was sprung on the team.

 

Still he hoped that when everything was over, he would be able to sleep in a bed. Maybe even treat himself to a spa day if that was allowed.

 

And then he saw Lotor slump down into the other chair that was on the other side of the table. His beautiful white hair fell like a curtain around his body and face, hiding what the prince was feeling at the moment. Still the explosions rang out as Lance waited for some sort of reaction from the Galra prince.

 

“Lotor? Are you okay?” Lance asked softly as he leaned as best he could against the table,”It’s alright to not be okay with the situation. It is very stressful.”

 

“As much as I would love to freak out right, I need to keep a level head. For our sake and for my team of general’s sake.” Lotor answered after a few moments. His voice was slightly muffled by his curtain of hair.

 

“Still having a moment of panic to wash over you has got to be better than bottling up. Just let yourself have a moment or two to panic before you doing anything else.”

 

Lotor brushed his hair away as he looked at Lance. There was indescribable look on his face as he continued to stare blankly across the table. But in his eyes, Lance saw the panic racing for several moments. Then it disappeared quickly, showing determination grace the galran prince’s face.

 

Lance waited once more for the prince to speak up. The other man stood up from his chair and walked over to the other side of the table.  Deep breath came and went before he spoke up. “Lance I have to admit a few things to you before anything else happens.”

Lance could only nod at the words, wondering what the prince would have to say to him

 

“First things first, as much as I threatened you in the beginning, I had little to no intentions to harm you in anyway. It would be very bad for my reputation as a leader for the people if I went around hurting others.” Lotor told him as he put his larger hand over Lance’s.

 

“I kinda figured that out when we talked about those books you had in your room.” Lance said quietly. Gently he squeezed the larger hand that was over his. A soft smile gracing his face when he felt the prince squeeze back with the same amount of force

 

“Another thing is that I may have have become enamoured with you during the short time that we’ve spent together.”

 

That admittance made Lance’s brain stop short. 

 

Lotor then carefully raised a hand to his face, gently placing it on one of his cheeks, look at Lance like the end of the world was creeping only onto the both of them in the moment. All he could do in response to this action was take in a shaky breath. Lance knew with every fiber of his being what the Galra was trying to say in that moment without speaking. Still there was a spark of doubt in his mind that kept telling him that the admiration that was behind those beautiful blue eyes of Lotor were not real. This was the son of Zarkon after all.

 

“Wha- When did you start to feel this way about me?” Lance asked hesitantly. His voice was soft in the room they were in, as the sounds of the battle raged outside it.

 

A smile softly spread across the prince’s face, as if he expected the question and the disbelief at his confession. “A short time after taking you back to my ship is all I can say for certain.” At Lance’s face that began to colour a dusty red, Lotor continued.” It isn’t much of a surprise since the Galra are known to fall for their beloved so quickly and easily. I’m more surprised at myself for not saying anything before this moment.”

 

“So this is your confession?” Was all Lance could get out. He was surprised at how gentle and truthful Lotor was being in this moment. Even with what he has seen of the prince’s interaction with his Generals and the royal Faird siblings there was some hesitation to share some things that were important.

 

“I suppose so. With how close your team is, the most likely outcome is that you’ll be rescued. That you’ll have to leave me. There could be no worse of a time to confess such a thing to my beloved.” Lotor admitted sadly.

 

Lance’s heart froze for a moment at those words. As much as he wanted to get back to his team to help rescue the universe, there was a small part of him that wanted to know more about Lotor. What his ambitions were as a leader, how he would handle with coming to a compromise with team Voltron about the empire or his hobbies he had when he had spare time.

 

Maybe even how he would be when meeting Lance’s family back on earth.

 

As he took another shaky breath in, he lifted a hand to Lotor’s face. He could feel the prince’s pulse quickening at that action and once more Lance could only smile softly. “I admit that there’s a part of me that is curious at what would happen if we could ever go further than being enemies.” A pause, wondering if he should go any further with his explanation.”However I think that no matter what we did now would do us any good. It would destroy the both us were hurt or died from the our enemies.”

 

“The answer I expected when I confessed how I felt. It’s a smart move for the both of us.” Lotor said softly. 

 

For the next few minutes they just stayed where they were, finding some comfort at their last moments with each other. Lance tried to memorize every small detail on the prince;s face, not knowing he would see the other once he was rescued. Lotor wanted to remember the soft kindness of the red paladin and how soft his hands were they hand combed through his hair.

 

And then there was a sharp bang against the door. Someone shouted that whoever was in the room didn’t open the door, they would force their way in. Lance saw Lotor taking in a shaky breath, showing how much losing him was affecting him. 

 

“I guess this is the end.”

 

“It appears so my beloved.” Lotor answered as he kneeled beside Lance. 

 

He then moved his hand from the paladin’s cheek to the back of their head. Slowly he leaned his body closer and softly placed a kiss on Lance’s forehead. Before he could say anything to the galra prince, Lotor then moved to place a kiss on his cheek and then finally one on his lips.

 

For a few moments they stayed this way, taking the feeling of each other with their lips. And then as the sound of the door crashed in, Lotor froze up. The Galra was forcibly taking away from him, leaving him feeling a bit more empty than he would ever admit. He watched as Keith pushed the prince against the wall, anger pouring from the shorter boy 

 

“If I ever see you touching Lance in any way ever again, I will not accountable for my actions.” Keith threatened. His grip became tighter when Lotor wouldn’t answer or look at him.

 

“Answer me you won’t do it again!”

 

“If it would make you feel better about the fact that you lost your teammate, than yes I’ll admit to never touch your red paladin again.” Lotor said quietly, still refusing to look down at the shorter boy. Keith growled at this answer and slammed the prince into wall quite hard. 

 

“Keith.” Lance breathed out, tears starting to water his eyes. For a second, Keith glanced back at his teammate and saw how close the boy was to breaking down at what he was doing.

 

His resolve to roughen up the capture faltered along with his grip. Lotor suddenly smirked at this and decided to taunt some more. “I’m surprised that your team even came through on a rescue mission. I thought for sure you would abandon him once you realized how much it would be to get him back.”

 

“Shut up.” Keith growled out.

 

“Oh don’t be that way. Wasn’t it the same way when you couldn’t get the original Black Paladin back right away? Your hope fell away so soon, even it was impossible to find him with such a vast universe.” Lotor leaned forward to whisper the last part in Keith’s ear. 

 

“Did that happen again when you failed the first time to get Lance back? Imagined how he felt when his teammates were unable to rescue them because of your failure?”

 

Before anyone could stop him, Keith took a dagger he had stored in his armour and pushed it into Lotor’s shoulder, effectively pinning him to the wall. Even if it was painful ordeal, Lotor didn’t make a sound as the dagger went through his shoulder. After a few seconds of this happening, blood started to make a deep red damp stain through his armour.

 

Keith took a deep as he took a few steps back. He could only admire what he had done for a short second before he focused his attention towards Lance. The frightened look on the other boy’s face as held a hand to his mouth at what happened, made Keith ashamed.

 

He was supposed to help rescue Lance, not scare him away.

 

Walking over to Lance, he crouched down to make him appear smaller. Holding his hand out for the other boy to take, Lance shook his head no. “I can’t walk. He had to carry me here because of what happened to me when the team attacked the ships.”

 

Switching tactics on how he would get his teammate out, he stood up. As best as he could he carefully picked up the taller boy. Then he walked out of the room to get the both of them out of there so one of the lions could pick them up.

 

The last thing Lance saw of Lotor was the look of defeat at losing him and the blood starting to drip to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this quite the chapter I've written. I really enjoyed writing it a lot as those two have a moment, even if it was cut short by Keith. (Also I had planned for Lotor to be stabbed that way when since the last chapter because the idea popped into my head. I must be reading too much Animorphs again lol)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter as it did take me quite of bit of time to get it all written out. :D
> 
> (P.S Also I have a short epilogue coming shortly after this. Hopefully you'll enjoy it!)


	10. Epilogue

Even if it was wonderful that his team was glad to get him back, gently hugging him as best as they could, he couldn’t get that look that Lotor had on his face. It was more heartbreaking than anything Lance had seen in space so far. 

 

He looked at Allura’s long white hair that brushed up against him as she hugged him and he wishing he could share this moment with the Galra prince. “Allura, can I ask you a question?”

 

“Yes Lance you can.” 

 

“How much would it take for us to try and talk to Prince Lotor? Would it be off the table or is there some possibility?” He asked. Lance felt when she stiffened up. Still he waited for her to take her time with her answer.

 

“I’m unsure if I or other people on the team would be able to trust the Son of Zarkon depending on what he wants as a future leader of the Galra Empire. If he is willing to met with us and compromise on what needs to be done to keep the universe safe, then I would allow it.”

 

Even with his body aching for somewhere to crash into, Lance smiled softly once more. “Then I have some good news for you princess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue! Hopefully it hints towards something that will be better. :D 
> 
> That is the end for the whole thing folks. It was fun for my first fleshed out multi-chapter fic. Now onwards to the Lancelot mermaid fic!

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the confusion guys. I was debating whether I should combine chapters 1 and 2 because I felt it would be odd to have such short chapters rather than having them be a little longer. So in the end I decided to do combine the first two chapters to be the 1st chapter.
> 
> Again sorry for the confusion and I hope from here on out I won't need to do this again. (Also working on the 2nd chapter as we speak.)


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